The city of Jonanesburg’s MMC of transport, Kenny Kunene together with the Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) acting CEO, Loius Nel visited ward 29, 30 and 31 in Orlando East Region D on June 07 as part of #OperationRestore.
ALSO READ: JRA advises against throwing rubbish in stormwater drains
The project is intended to promote equal access to basic municipal services and restore the city’s roads and road infrastructure.
According to MMC Kunene, as he urges residents to be part of the programme, one of the challenges they face as they work on the roads is that the JRA team is threatened and have equipment stolen from them.
Regardless of these challenges, the JRA team was seen resurfacing roads, fixing potholes, clearing blocked storm water drains and reinstating road excavations as well as painting road markings.
ALSO READ: Get to know Joburg’s new MMC of housing
“Today we are here as part of the Operation Restore. What the operation means is that we attend areas identifies by local councillors, especially those areas with deteriorating road infrastructure.
“Some of the challenges we face as a department is that we have a lack of man power, we would go into areas to patch potholes but the work is not seen by the community.
“This is why we are here today to remind residents that we are here and we are working,” MMC Kunene said.
He added that with this operation, they bring people from different regions to work in various wards.
“We want resident to see that JRA was here and work has been done. In that way we give people hope that where we did not manage to go we will be coming back and Orlando East is one of those areas with a historic significance.
“I am very glad that we started here and we will be going into other wards as we go into the new financial year.”
MMC Kunene also said the backlog of the operation is cause by the shortage of people.
ALSO READ: The City of Joburg engages with the community of Soweto
“Looking back to 30 years ago, there was about 25 teams in one depot working on the region and today we have six teams, so that tells you that backlog is caused by a lack of man power.
“We are aiming at increasing these teams working with people who understand the significance of road infrastructure.”
The event was a continuation of similar engagements that have already took place in Eldorado Park and Finetown in Region G and Cosmo City in Region C.
Follow Us Here:
Catch the latest news by visiting our other platforms:
Facebook
Soweto Urban News
Twitter
Youtube
