File Picture: Itumeleng English/African News Agency (ANA)
Pretoria - The Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) said it has established a regional project plan to repair roads damaged during the recent devastating floods in the city.
This comes after severe rains raced through the city and left many homes, electrical infrastructure, and roads damaged.
A lot of infrastructural damage was reported in Soweto and Roodepoort, with electrical poles knocked off, mini substations submerged, bridges falling apart, and sinkholes appearing.
To tackle the issue, JRA said seven regional depots would operate at full capacity from Monday, with teams prioritising flooding remedial work according to the established plan.
According to Louis Nel, acting CEO of the JRA, interventions were organised by the City’s disaster management team, which brought together the JRA and other organisations with the provincial administration to conduct thorough flood damage assessments throughout all of the city's damaged areas between December 28 and December 31 of last year.
Nel said JRA standby teams have worked throughout the festive period to ensure affected areas are safe for road users, and teams have constantly monitored infrastructure damage.
“Traffic diversion measures have been put in place, when appropriate, and deteriorating and unsafe roads and bridges have been blocked to traffic.”
He added that where road infrastructure reconstruction and rehabilitation are required, the JRA’s planning engineers, together with appointed consultants, will finalise site inspections and assessments.
“Among others, new designs and specifications will be developed and budget requirements with time-frame put in place with the aim of appointing contractors to undertake the required remedial work.”
IOL