City of Johannesburg Transport MMC Funzi Ngobeni has called for interdepartmental issues affecting the Johannesburg Roads Agency's (JRA's) road maintenance to be addressed urgently.

"JRA teams are often unable to do road repair work because of water on the road surface owing to pipe bursts, standpipes without drainage, as well as blocked or leaking sewer lines spilling raw sewage onto roads," he said.

He added that there are more than 2 000 reinstatements that need to be completed by Joburg Water. Joburg Water and the JRA had a service level agreement but, owing to the need to complete the works rapidly, Joburg Water opted to appoint contractors to expedite the reinstatements.

"The JRA is only able to do its work efficiently and effectively if other departments and entities do their work timeously and effectively," Ngobeni said.

The interdepartmental initiative, spearheaded by the CoJ multi-party coalition government, must ensure that departments hold each other accountable for actions or lack thereof, and that departments keep sight of the need to enable each other’s departments and entities to perform their duties with little hindrance, said Ngobeni.

"As the JRA prepares to resume the A Re Sebetseng region-by-region service delivery blitz, it is my hope that all outstanding issues affecting road maintenance are resolved urgently. Excess water on any road surface also leads to the formation of potholes and other defects, which cause the already deteriorated state of the city’s roads to lose their quality further," he said.

The JRA has had one-on-one engagements with several city departments and entities where service delivery challenges were impacting negatively on the JRA’s ability to perform its work, including filling potholes and resurfacing roads.

"Resolution of these outstanding matters should bode well for much-improved customer satisfaction. I am happy that engagements will take place monthly, to monitor the work of all departments and entities concerned," Ngobeni said.