Joburg Water to repair and reinstate pipes on Pitzer Road
JRA spokesperson Mosa Makhalima said the damage was caused by the agency's team who were doing routine maintenance work in Glen Austin.
In a previous article detailing the extensive damage inflected to Pitzer Road by a city entity, Whose responsibility is it – JRA or JW?, [week ending March 8], residents and the paper were unable to establish who was responsible not only for the damage but the repairs of work that was carried out on February 8 and damaged a pipe.
It has since been established that the pipe was damaged by the Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) while the entity was performing routine maintenance. Johannesburg Water (JW) has, however, confirmed that they will caretake responsibility for the reinstatement of the road.
This situation was brought to the attention of the city and paper after Glen Austin resident Dave Allanby accused the two entities of leaving Pitzer Road in a ‘eyesore state’ after digging the stormwater channels.
The aim of digging was to clean and remove reeds and bulrushes that were doing no damage and hosted a myriad of bird life.
He claimed that JW had attempted to fix the pipe three times without any success.
JW spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala confirmed that the water entity will be responsible for the repairs.
Shabalala did not provide a timeline as to when they will repair the pipes and back-fill the excavations. “Assessments are ongoing, and a rehabilitation plan will be issued with completion dates. The leak was caused by a TLB machine,” said Shabalala.
Asked about allegations that the pipe line were damaged by an agency subcontractor, Shabalala said JRA weren’t able to respond to this question.
JRA spokesperson Mosa Makhalima said the allegations by Glen Austin residents were unfounded. “Not true. Work was done by the JRA teams and no contractor. The JRA Depot teams were doing their routine maintenance of clearing the stormwater channels,” said Makhalima.
She said no complaint was filed to have the bridge cleaned, the Midrand JRA depot inspector was doing routine inspection.
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