JRA responds to councillor’s frustrations

Ms Bertha Peters-Scheepers from the JRA was responding to recent comments made by Clr Carlos da Rocha, the councillor for ward 66. He is also helping in ward 118 since the former councillor, Ms Alison van der Molen, defected to the ANC.

In an article previously published in the EXPRESS, Clr da Rocha said despite reporting problems to the relevant departments, the lack of service delivery continued.

He said service delivery was non-existent in his ward since November. According to him, he was experiencing the same in ward 118.

The JRA were among the departments Clr Da Rocha raised concerns about.

He complained about manholes that continue to remain open as well as a number of other problems. He said the JRA’s “favourite excuse” is that there are no materials. He questioned if one needs materials to reset storm water slabs or cut grass on pavements and roads? He said it was just bad management.

In another article published, he questioned if the city was intentionally not providing service delivery to DA wards.

Mr Gabu Tugwana, from the City of Johannesburg (CoJ), stated that service delivery in all wards takes place according to fixed schedules. He also said the city apologises to affected residents if there are individual cases where regular service delivery did not take place.

He said it was “ridiculous” to imply the city is neglecting wards which are represented by opposition councillors.

Last week, Ms Peters-Scheepers said maintenance is done.

“The depot does not discriminate against any ward when we do proactive or reactive maintenance. Every defect reported gets repaired within a reasonable time, like all the other wards, except where material is unavailable or the issue cannot be resolved within a reasonable timeframe,” she said.

The JRA was recently allocated an operating budget of R814-million for the 2014/15 financial year to fund initiatives such as the Find & Fix mobile application.

The application was launched to ensure a better response to storm water maintenance, pothole repair and other routine road maintenance, traffic signal mobility management, bridge maintenance and gravel road maintenance.

Clr Geoffrey Makhubo, the member of the mayoral committee for finance in the city, said while the operating budget aims to maintain existing infrastructure and ensure speedy response to “niggling issues”, the JRA is also committed to an overall improvement in the quality of the road infrastructure through an extensive capital investment programme. The JRA was allocated R5.6-billion over a three year period to focus on improved road safety and mobility.

@JoziReporter