Massive reinstatement finally closed after City officials get involved
GREYMONT – Pipes installed in 1910 will need around R80 million to fix for good.
The Long Road hole in Greymont is finally filled and tarred after Johannesburg Water and its contractors gave it the required energy and attention.
The year’s-old reinstatement made national headlines when a motorist drove into it and sustained injuries, needing medical attention on the evening of March 8 – It was bound to happen published in Northcliff Melville Times [Week ending Friday, March 11, 2022].
The very next day, the City’s entities and officials descended on the site to assess the nature of the problem and fast track it being resolved. Ward 86 councillor Chantelle Fourie-Shawe said, “The reinstatement is finally sorted after Joburg Water fixed the leak and resurfaced the road. We do expect that the leak could occur again in the future as the piping is very old and costly to replace completely.”
Fourie-Shawe added that the Johannesburg Roads Agency had given Joburg Water and City Power the greenlight to use their own contractors to repair potholes and reinstatements due to the backlog facing JRA.
The day after the elderly man had driven into the huge hole, Joburg Water arrived at the site to fill it up after they had confirmed to the ward councillor weeks prior that the leak was fixed. It was then discovered that there was another leak along the same pipe down the road needing it to be uncovered once more.
A third smaller leak sprung a couple of hours afterwards which resulted in water outages for residents in the area. On March 12, the leaks were confirmed to be repaired and filling the holes got underway with the water supply being restored to the community.
On March 14, the road was being tarred by Joburg Waters contractors and the matter was finally resolved, but due to the issues of old infrastructure and lack of funds, the ward councillor believes this problem could be faced again in the future.
Fourie-Shawe said, “Ideally we would be replacing the entire pipeline (which we found out was installed in 1910) of about 4km but this will cost at least R80 million. Joburg Water hopes to get funding in the next budget cycle starting 1 July.”
The reinstatement had been left open for years prior to this but was not ignored by the City as believed by some members of the public.
Fourie-Shawe explained, “This matter of the reinstatement is slightly unique as the pipe had a recurring leaking which Johannesburg Water had been dealing with for a while. It could not be closed as the leak was not resolved and was kept that way until Joburg Water knew it was fixed for good.”
At the time of the accident, Joburg Water was in the process of beginning the filling and tarring process but were too late.
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