October 28, 2004
By Thomas Thale
SUBURBS around Johannesburg that have applied to have their boom gates legalised will know on Thursday, 28 October whether their applications have been approved by council.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo said most applicants will be notified today of the City's decision.
The council received 324 applications to legalise 2 548 access restrictions last year. Most came from Sandton, Midrand, Kensington and Randburg.
The City, the mayor said, sought to "ensure effective regulation and management of road closures and to ensure that people have access to all public facilities and to the relevant infrastructure, including the City's road network".
Mavela Dlamini, managing director of the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), said the City has approved 46 applications covering 71 road restrictions that will affect 85 roads.
Some 38 applications, involving 107 road restrictions, were rejected. "These are mostly cases in which the diversion of traffic would have had an adverse effect on traffic flow," Dlamini said.
Twelve applications have been sent back for further investigation, two returned for further public participation, and two returned pending a broader Traffic Impact Study, Masondo said.
A further 94 applications have not been finalised. In most of these cases the JRA is waiting for feedback from the South African Police Services (SAPS). The SAPS "assess whether the existence of specified street closures have resulted in a reduction or increase in incidents of crime", according to Masondo.
The executive director of the department of development planning, transportation and environment, Amanda Nair, pledged that all applications would be processed by December.
Applications that have been approved must be gazetted before they come into effect.
"An approval is valid for two years from the date on which a notice is advertised in the media and in the government gazette or from a later date specified in the government gazette," said Masondo.
It remains illegal to ask people entering boomed gates for their details, Dlamini pointed out. "You can only monitor people coming in, but you cannot obstruct their movement." Dlamini added that booms should not be chained or locked.
Applicants who have been turned down have 10 days in which to lodge appeals, according to Dlamini.
Communities whose applications have been turned down will have 30 days in which to remove the access gates or booms. Any road closure not removed will be taken down by the JRA and the costs will be recovered from the community involved.
The City adopted a new boom policy in 2003 that required gated communities to apply to have their boom gates legalised in terms of a set of stringent criteria. Ninety-one closures were subsequently removed in "areas where people had not applied for permission to retain or erect new closures", said Masondo.
For more information contact the JRA on 011 298 5000
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