Learn to live with potholes

30 January 2015 - 02:27 By Penwell Dlamini and Shenaaz Jamal
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DANGER ZONE: A pothole on Main Avenue in Randburg this week
DANGER ZONE: A pothole on Main Avenue in Randburg this week
Image: LAUREN MULLIGAN

Johannesburg has admitted that it has no immediate fix for the blight of potholed roads despite increasing its projected expenditure on roads infrastructure by 250%.

City manager Trevor Fowler and chief financial officer Reginald Boqo said yesterday that although the city's finances were "sound" the council would not be able to tackle potholes "for some time".

Fowler said the Johannesburg Roads Agency had had its budget increased by 250% because the entire roads network of the city would have to be resurfaced to prevent the recurrence of potholes.

"It's not just about patching potholes - we want to resurface roads and reseal them so that potholes do not happen and that takes a lot of money.

"It's a programme that is being implemented over a number of years. So you will still see potholes because you can't get rid of them without resurfacing all the roads."

The City of Johannesburg's financial report for the year 2013-2014 shows increases in revenue, capital investment and expenditure.

In the 2011-2012 financial year , the city said it would spend R100-billion on infrastructure over 10 years.

Boqo said the city's sound financial position allowed it to raise funding outside the public sector .

About 58% of its funding came from the sale of bonds, 29% from banks, 10% from development finance institutions and 3% from leases.

The city's 10-year green bond of R1.5-billion was oversubscribed by 150%.

Boqo said the city's billing crisis had largely been resolved and more people were paying for municipal services.

In 2013-2014, R28-billion was billed and R26-billion collected.

He said the council had committed itself to resolving every billing problem within 30 days and was investigating the introduction of alternative payment methods for customers who were under financial strain.

He said: "It is not just households that are struggling to pay their bills, it's businesses too.

"Everybody is working under depressed economic conditions."

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