This comes after the Advertiser reported that the recent summer rains have brought a bumper crop of dangerous potholes and water-logging-related issues to the City’s roads, problems that have outpaced municipal crews.
The road defects have also seen residents raising concerns about the poor state of the roads.
On some major roads, multiple large potholes remained unrepaired for weeks, and many complained they have registered complaints on the issue, but there was no response from the City of Ekurhuleni officials.
Despite these, the metro assured residents its roads and stormwater department has been taking the ‘appropriate level’ of action to tackle water-logging and the City’s pothole problems.
According to metro spokesperson Zweli Dlamini, depots are patching up the potholes as and when they are reported, and they are prioritising the main roads. He pointed out a pro-active maintenance plan was in place to help improve turnaround time in effecting repairs and to catch up on some of the created pothole repairs backlogs.
Dlamini pointed out that, typically, the City receives higher numbers of reports of potholes from motorists around this time of year.
“To tackle the problem quicker, the City plans to secure service providers that will add to the department’s teams to fill potholes as and when they are formed,” said Dlamini.
While residents feel the recent rains have exposed the municipal’s “poor” road resurfacing work undertaken as part of its regular road maintenance work, the metro differed, saying this is incorrect, as heavy rains can damage any type of road surface irrespective of the asphalt material used.
“Depot workers have been trained to conduct adequate work. The main cause of potholes is rain, and the formation of potholes cannot be prevented for as long as there is rain. Cracks which eventually form potholes result from water ingress that weakens the bond between the binder and asphalt material,” explained Dlamini.
We have seen some Boksburg residents who could no longer stand the pothole-riddled roads in their area resorting to funding or patching the holes on some roads themselves, with others using sand to fill the holes.
However, the metro said such practice is not advisable, filling potholes with sand, as a pothole cannot be fixed when filled with sand or gravel, and that will not improve the safety of the concerned road.
In our previous report, a source told this publication the budget or resources available to maintain roads is not enough to deal with all the reported road defects.
Also Read: WATCH: Potholes hit Ekurhuleni roads after heavy rains
