The Johannesburg Roads Agency and the Mayor Herman Mashaba embarked on a blitz around Woodmead to quickly repair numerous potholes in the area.

The City of Johannesburg has recently embarked on a series of service delivery blitz’s in the various regions to address some of the concerns in each region. Along Woodlands Drive, in Region E, massive potholes were particularly worrying. Nonhlanhla Makhuba, the MMC for Transport explained that when she began working as the MMC, a survey was done to evaluate the state of the roads in the city. “When the results came back they were shocking, the majority of the roads were in a terrible state.”

Makhuba added that because there is an infrastructure backlog in the city, it is not possible to fix all the roads at the same time so they have resolved to patch the roads where possible.

The city worked with Jetpatcher during the blitz to demonstrate how quickly and effectively potholes can be repaired.

Mashaba said that recent heavy rains have not only made it more difficult to work on the potholes but also aggravated the structure of the road. Mashaba echoed Makhuba’s sentiments and said that the infrastructure backlog for roads in Johannesburg is at about R12 billion. “We don’t have the money to resurface all the roads but on a short term basis we want to make sure we fix the potholes.”

The mayor highlighted that his role is to ensure that service delivery needs are met and it is his role to oversee these projects. Some of the other projects the city is currently working on include various pipe replacement projects as well as the inner city rejuvenation.

He said that working with the private sector would also help to get large projects completed.

Through these projects, Mashaba said that a priority is to ensure that people are upskilled in the process in order to create sustainable jobs.

Mashaba added that street lighting in Region E is also one of the projects he plans to work on in the future, however, he wants to ensure that he balances all of the residents’ needs within the city.

Details: Johannesburg Roads Agency [email protected]

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