Last week, the Roodepoort Record reported on the terrible state of Albertina Sisulu Road going through the Princess informal settlement.
Also read: Road left unusable
The Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) commented, saying that there is no temporary solution to fix Albertina Sisulu Road because the informal settlement (Princess) encroaches on, and is built over the city’s road and stormwater infrastructure, and when it rains, the water cannot flow into the existing stormwater system, resulting in the ponding or flooding.
“With water on the road, it is impossible to repair the damages on the surface. We assessed the area for the possibility of redirecting the water from the road without flooding the residents along the road.
Unfortunately, the informal settlement stretches for about 750m and is next to the road reserve, which prevents us from having a temporary discharge point,” says the head of the department for regional operations, Khaya Gqibitole.
Gqibitole says it’s crucial to involve the Department of Human Settlements to address the encroachment on the stormwater infrastructure so that the water can be discharged from the road surface before they can start working on road surface repairs.
