Johannesburg Water confirmed on January 18, that an ongoing leak from a broken pipe on the corner of Rothesay and Jan Smuts avenue was being given attention.
Johannesburg Water’s spokesperson, Nombuso Shabalala said, “There were three different leaks. Two of them were due to ageing infrastructure and the third one was due to a truck accident which damaged the meter pipe.”
She added that a team went on site and found a new leak on the fire hydrant which they were busy with by changing the hydrant.
“The team is currently sourcing the required materials. As soon as the materials are acquired, the repairs will be conducted. Thereafter, the reinstatement will be done within five days.”
The Johannesburg Roads Agency attends to faulty roads
Ward 90 councillor, Martin Williams on January 15 reached out to the Johannesburg Roads Agency’s (JRA) X account and asked when the long overdue reinstatement at the corner of Rothesay and Jan Smuts Avenue would be done.
JRA’s spokesperson, Bertha Peters-Scheepers explained that reinstatements of roads and pavements are only undertaken by JRA when Johannesburg Water (or any other entity) has completed their pipe/infrastructure repairs.
“JRA teams may attend to excavated sites pending the completion of another entity’s work if the site needs to be made safe for road users in the interim. However, we do not carry out backfilling and reinstatements where work by another entity has not been completed and inspected by JRA and deemed safe to reinstate.”
Bertha Peters-Scheepers added that while the road agency attempts to attend to all potholes identified during visual inspections, road repairs are scheduled according to priority.
“In other words, the extent of road damage and the safety hazard they pose. This means that our regional teams attend to more than one suburb or ward at a time based on the priority status as indicated above.”
The spokesperson highlighted the importance of noting that potholes are a moving target in that they occur every other day, owing to various factors such as rain, aging infrastructure, and pressure from heavy-duty vehicles, among others, so our teams are likely to return to the same suburb on a different road.
She said that a total of 26 potholes were repaired across three roads in Craighall on January 15, “Namely, Rutland, Lancaster, and Clarence avenues. Potholes in other parts of Craighall Park will be attended to in due course as the depot schedules maintenance work.”
Peter-Scheepers explained that the roads agency could obtain permission to excavate and work on the road reserve or pavement.
“The JRA follows a Wayleave process where entities like Johannesburg Water, City Power, and other service providers of fibre network companies, etc. can obtain permission to excavate and work on the road reserve or pavement. Entities and service providers need to apply for a wayleave with the regional depot in the area they intend to carry out their specific work.”
She concluded that the wayleave agreement will include the scope of work intended to be carried out, the location where the work will be done, the timeframe in which the works will take place, the infrastructure to be affected by these works, and the rules and regulation regarding to the safety of road users. Only when a wayleave has been issued by the JRA can the service provider carry out their work.
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