JRA ready to take on potholes as Asphalt Plant returns to functionality
JOBURG – Hopes are high that the operationalisation of JRA’s Asphalt Plant will allow them to return to full capacity and significantly contribute to potholes repair programme across the city.
The roads agency’s asphalt plant is fully functional once again.
Residents and motorists of Region B in the City of Johannesburg are still waiting on the Johannesburg Road’s Agency (JRA) to attend to and resolve existing potholes and reinstatements across the city. Issues facing the JRA’s Asphalt Plant in Booysens have been dealt with as the JRA recently announced that the plant is now fully functional. This is according to a statement released by the JRA after its Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Republic Monakedi conducted a site visit at the Asphalt Plant on 29 March 2020. The purpose of the visit was to assess the state of readiness for the plant operations. This included procurement of input materials such as aggregates and gas, proper maintenance services for critical infrastructure, the appointment of specialists and key strategic personnel, as well as specialised skills training for the staff to enhance the internal capacity at the plant.
For months, residents, motorists and ward councillors have been pleading with JRA to provide feedback on challenges and complications in relation to the fixing of potholes and reinstatements. JRA spokesperson Sanele Zondi acknowledged that the City’s asphalt production plant was not operating at its optimum performance. Zondi said, “Initially, it was thought that the shortage of input materials, aggregates, was the only challenge. However, an extensive assessment of the operational systems indicated that the overall underperformance of the plant is attributed to issues including internal human resources, the supply of materials, and challenges related to the procurement to sustain operations, all of which contribute to the downtime.”
Now that the JRA has a fully functional asphalt production plant, they can attend to returning the roads to a decent state.
JRA CEO Selemo Monakedi explained that the measures in place will ensure that the plant functions to its optimal capacity in order to fast-track service delivery and address the road defects across the City of Johannesburg. He said, “It has been my priority to ensure that we revitalise and re-open the plant for production.”
JRA is currently in the second phase of its city-wide Accelerated Service Delivery Plan for pothole repairs, road reinstatements, cleaning of kerbs, pavement cleaning and road markings.
