WATCH: Joburg Mayor promises to fix potholes, improve water supply
‘We can indicate that after engagement with the water department, it has become clear that there’s no shortage of water in the city.’ – Mayor
The City of Johannesburg executive mayor Dada Morero briefed the media on several matters, including water shortages, traffic lights and potholes at Joburg Theatre on March 26.
Morero emphasised he was aware of the challenges of the water infrastructure and service delivery and assured Joburg Water was turning the infrastructure around and improving the water supply.
The mayor mentioned the intensity of rain the past three weeks has lowered their intervention in addressing the backlog of potholes.
He also said their approach in pothole maintenance was three-pronged; which is covering a large scale in one operation, detaching and cementing the affected potholes, resurfacing and giving roads more life span, which can go from three to five years.
Additionally, they have built an in-house production capacity through their asphalt plant to fast-track the fixing and maintenance of potholes.
Water issues
“After an engagement with the water department, it has become clear there is no shortage of water except that we have challenges related to the infrastructure because of leaks. Therefore, the CoJ through Joburg Water has identified leaks.
As of January this year, the municipality installed 125 noise loggers across the Central, Randburg and Roodepoort regions, with more to follow. By the end of April, we expect to have completed the commissioning of these loggers and will install an additional 400 by June,” he said.
Noise loggers detect leaks and it sends a notification to Joburg Water.
JRA trying to curb theft
The Johannesburg Road Agency oversees around 2 023 signalised intersections within the city, of which 251 belong to the Gauteng province.
The city struggles to maintain these intersections because of vandalism and theft.
Sipho Nhlapo, the acting HOD of Mobility and Freight, emphasised theft of traffic signals is because of copper, which is worth money. He mentioned copper worth R6m was discovered on a truck two weeks ago.
He said what they have done internally is to reduce the diameter of the cable.
“We are investigating innovations and negotiating with other suppliers of the controllers to reduce it further.
“Cable theft is a behavioural trend. It is not something we can control. The best solution to avoid cable theft is to educate our community that we do not have to steal our assets. If a traffic light is left untouched, it can last 15 years on our road,” he expressed.
@southern.courier Sipho Nhlapo, the acting HOD of Mobility and Freight, emphasised theft of traffic signals is because of copper, which is worth money. He mentioned copper worth R6m was discovered on a truck two weeks ago.
He added they installed bollards on the poles so that it became harder to gain access to the copper.
“Somebody will have to bring a diamond cutter to go through all these mediums to reach the copper,“ he said and mentioned he was sure the thieves would try.
JRA is also burying traffic light cables and adding concrete slabs for extra protection.
