Halfway House Development Forum plans to meet with heads of JW, JRA, JMPD, and City Power to improve suburb
Co-founder of the forum Rob Fowler said the meeting with city heads is in order for the forum and the entities to work together to better report and resolve logistical issues.
Halfway House Development Forum (HHDF) representatives, who seek to transform the suburb into a better-looking one than it is, believe city entities need to join them on their quest.
Forum co-founder Rob Fowler said they were trying to get various city entities to come to the party this year, and see how they can improve the CBD together.
He said this at a meeting held at the Health Emporium on February 4.
Also read: Security guards nab suspected cable thieves in Halfway Gardens
Fowler adds that to achieve this, the forum will try to meet with the regional heads of Johannesburg Water (JW), Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), Johannesburg Metro Police Development (JMPD), and City Power, to see how some logistical issues can be resolved.
Fowler said: “[The forum] is trying our best to activate the various agencies to action the repair, maintenance, and enforcement issues that they raise. JW, JRA, and City Power each have their own internal reporting software systems that don’t talk to each other, and they, as outsiders, do not have access to systems to see who is doing what and how issues are being allocated and escalated for action,” said Fowler.
Also read: Halfway House Development Forum makes immediate impact in the suburb
He made an example of a traffic light on Church Street and Richard’s Drive, which has been damaged since December, and still has not been repaired. He also said that there has been no feedback from the Transportation Department on how they plan to better manage and upgrade the Boulders Taxi rank.
“We are going to develop zones within the Halfway House CBD for acceptance by the forum to help prioritise actions. Two city cleanup days in Halfway House have been identified. Overall, the city’s agencies need to be better able to identify issues of concern, and more effectively respond to urgent action items,” added Fowler.
He said if the city, and its own agencies, cannot use their will and combined resources to: ‘Fix the broken windows’, then there is little hope that there will be any meaningful change in the overall character and quality of this really important and valuable part of Midrand.
Fowler concluded that the city needs to up its game, get more involved, and provide the new and old residents and property owners in Halfway House with better and more properly maintained infrastructure, and a much improved urban environment.
Follow us on our Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok pages. Join our WhatsApp group for any story ideas you may have.
Related article: Halfway House Development Forum launched and aims to clean up the suburb
