Residents of De Vries Street and surrounding areas say that, despite numerous complaints to the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), the road remains unrepaired.

According to Roodekrans Neighbourhood Watch (RNW) chairperson Andreas Öberlechner, there has been some progress in recent months, with a JRA inspector visiting the site earlier this year.

“Unfortunately, the JRA team worsened the problem by digging up two additional sections of the road, presumably to locate the damaged stormwater pipe,” he says.

“The new holes are on the road surface, and there are no warning signs for drivers.

“De Vries Street is very dark at night, and I fear it is only a matter of time before a serious accident occurs.”

The Roodepoort Record approached JRA’s head of infrastructure development, Kwazelela Mcetywa, who confirmed that a service provider has been appointed to design and implement the necessary repairs.

“Once the design and scope of works have been finalised, rehabilitation of the stormwater infrastructure will proceed, subject to budget availability,” says Mcetywa, adding that this is the second service provider assigned to the project.

“We appointed a service provider when we first became aware of the problem in 2023,” he says.

“Unfortunately, we had to cancel the contract with the initial service provider due to poor performance.”

Mcetywa says the issue was caused by misaligned stormwater pipes connecting to the inlet at the lowest point of De Vries Street.

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“This led to the collapse of a section of the concrete stormwater structure at the lowest point of the street, as well as a pavement collapse near the inlet due to water erosion.

“The project has been prioritised for design and implementation in the current financial year.”