It’s a hard road community
The Johannesburg Road Agency account over their challenges which impact the quality of services they’re able to render.
Alex motorists know the hardship of having to share a lane with oncoming traffic to avoid a pothole.
Whether travelling along Vincent Tshabalala (London) Road, or Alfred Nzo (Roosevelt) Street in either direction, there are potholes challenging motorists.
Read more: JRA shares tips of driving in the rain
The JRA head of infrastructure development Kwazi Mcetywa said on February 5 that the agency had received a budget of R70.5m which was allocated across seven regions of the city. Unfortunately, this was not enough to cover the agency’s backlog of services.
“There is a current backlog in excess of R1b for road repairs for the entire city, which is currently a huge challenge based on the demand for resurfacing due to diminishing road conditions,” Mcetywa said in response to questioning over how much had been spent on rehabilitating road infrastructure in Alex in 2024.
“In addition, no budget has been allocated for any road reconstruction programme.”
Mcetywa said in 2020, about R21m had been spent on upgrading roads in Alexandra under the entity’s Capex resurfacing programme.
The JRA head of regional operations Khaya Gqibitole said maintenance initiatives were ongoing in Alex, pointing out that a more collaborative effort with relevant entities such as Joburg Water, housing, building control and law enforcement was needed to ensure that some of the contributing factors to rapid road deterioration in Alex are dealt with holistically.
“Budgetary constraints remain a challenge on the construction of new roads and rehabilitation of existing roads,” added Gqibitole. “Maintenance inspections and schedules are carried out routinely and periodically in Alexandra to ensure that roads are functional and usable by motorists, unfortunately, various attributes in Alexandra contribute to the rapid deterioration of roads.”
Gqibitole said JRA had a claims process for damages to vehicles due to road defects. These could be emailed to claims@jra.org.za
Also read: Impact of flooding could reach R150 million – JRA
The contributing factors to rapid road deterioration in Alex cited by Gqibitole were:
- Greywater and wastewater that gets discharged directly onto the road surface
- Illegal bridging of sewer systems into stormwater drains that leads to blockages and ends up on the road surface
- Water pipe bursts
- Sewer blockages that flow onto the road surface
- Water from car washes that is not channelled properly into wastewater systems.
Follow us on our Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok pages. Join our WhatsApp group for any story ideas you may have.
Related article: Avoid dismantling JRA barricades
