Over 15 000 reinstatements completed by Johannesburg Water
Johannesburg Water is steadily making inroads in the City’s reinstatements backlog, one brick at a time.
Since 1 July 2022 to date, the Entity’s in-house technical teams have completed 15 205 reinstatements, which include small-scale restoration work on tarmac, paved, and concrete surfaces, backfilling, as well as the building of small valve boxes and chambers. A further 200 reinstatement jobs were done by contractors.
Considering the number of sites that needed to be restored when the Johannesburg Water took responsibility for reinstatements last year, the Entity has made some noteworthy progress.
This was revealed at the Reinstatements Media Session hosted by Johannesburg Water on Wednesday, 8 March 2023.
“The purpose of the media session was to give perspective to what the Entity is doing about the backlog of reinstatements around the City. We know that there are complaints from various regions about this issue and therefore we invited the media to show communities that we are actively addressing the matter,” said Johannesburg Water Spokesperson Puleng Mopeli.
Put simply, reinstatement is the process of closing a site – beneath a pavement or road – after it has been excavated to do water pipe replacements or repairs.
Prior to mid last year, the Johannesburg Roads Agency was responsible for the reinstatement jobs. “However, a decision was taken that Johannesburg Water would take over the responsibility of performing reinstatements on tarmac, paved, concrete, and stone surfaces. There are also grass surfaces that require minor reinstatement work that involves backfilling and compacting to normal ground level,” explained Johannesburg Water Senior Operations Manager Logan Munsamy.
Johannesburg Water uses both contractors and in-house teams to complete the work.
“The medium to large-scale work that includes paving, backfilling, concreting of surfaces, tarmac surfaces, and the building of valve boxes and chambers is outsourced to three service providers who share the workload among the regions. These service providers are appointed on a framework contract and have the necessary skills, equipment, and experience to undertake the magnitude of this work.”
Because of the enormity of the work, Johannesburg Water supplements capacity using in-house operator reinstatement teams.
“We have 10 depots in seven regions in the City of Johannesburg, which are strategically situated across the City to undertake service delivery issues. Each depot has an average of about four reinstatement teams. Some areas, like Soweto which is a larger region, have more.” The teams perform minor reinstatement works such as small-scale paving, concreting of surfaces, backfilling, and compaction. They are also geared up with the necessary skills and equipment to undertake small-scale reinstatement works.
“We have received some complaints about substandard workmanship or the slow pace at which some of the work is carried out. When we do become aware of such situations, we manage it according to our contract management process,” Munsamy reassured.
“This is indeed a mammoth task, but we are making progress slowly but surely. We do have our challenges; however, we intend to build more capacity as we go along. We have to be realistic about the backlog thus far, which cannot be eradicated overnight, either, but is being prioritised as it affects the safety of pedestrians and vehicle owners, as well as traffic flow management. Johannesburg Water is dedicated to providing optimal services. However, infrastructure in most suburbs is old, hence the frequency of repairs occurring more often than before. We do have capital upgrades every financial year, which we use to prioritise the most urgent jobs.”
Issued by: Puleng Mopeli
Logan Munsamy (centre) addressing the media on Wednesday, 8 March 2023.
A Johannesburg Water reinstatements team doing work at a site in Mulbarton on Wednesday, 8 March 2023.