Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) has confirmed on March 19 that Johannesburg Water has completed its pipe leak repairs and reinstatements. Tarring will be undertaken by the Roads Agency  scheduled for early April.

This comes after a Lyndhurst resident Clint Louw said Johannesburg Water’s poor communication and slow turnaround time in repairing its ageing infrastructure are unsatisfactory, after a muddy excavation was left outside his gate on February 26.

Louw reached out to the publication on March 4 to escalate the problem after his attempts to contact Johannesburg Water failed.

He explained that Johannesburg Water attended to a pipe leak outside his gate on February 26, but left behind a muddy mess that runs into his yard whenever it rains.

Read more: JRA and Johannesburg Water are aware of Illovo’s 10-year-old leak

“Lyndhurst Road is riddled with excavations from burst pipes, a clear sign of the ageing infrastructure,” Louw said.

Johannesburg Water spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala confirmed the leak had been repaired. “The site had been excavated or exposed because the team had to source the correct material. Work requests have been sent to the Johannesburg Roads Agency for the outstanding reinstatement jobs.”

Shabalala attributed the delays to a growing backlog of reinstatements and backfilling faced by the City of Johannesburg.

“This is also due to the high number of burst pipes and leaks the city experiences. The more burst and leaking pipes occur, the more backfilling and reinstatement jobs there are. However, the entity’s teams work around the clock to complete these outstanding reinstatement jobs.”

Also read: Craighall excavation grows while Johannesburg Water fails to fix leak

Jan Smuts and Rothesay avenues pipe contained after two weeks

A separate, notable excavation in Craighall at the intersection of Jan Smuts and Rothesay avenues gushed gallons of clean water for two weeks until March 11, despite calls from Ward 90 councillor Renate van Onselen and the publication to stop the wastage.

Johannesburg Water spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala explained the delay: “Due to the extent and scope of the work required, Johannesburg Water will be utilising the services of an external service provider to support project execution.

The appointment of an external service provider is intended to ensure that the project is completed efficiently, in accordance with applicable regulatory frameworks, procurement processes, and quality standards. The process of appointing the service provider is at the procurement stage.”

Van Onselen questioned why Johannesburg Water did not have in-house capacity to carry out the work sooner, which could have prevented the pipe from gushing for two weeks.

The initial excavation, next to the one that was leaking, was dug up last December in an attempt to locate a longstanding leak. That same excavation saw a vehicle plunge into it during heavy rainfall on February 13.

Follow us on our Whatsapp channel, Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok for the latest updates and inspiration!