June 23, 2005
By Bafana Nzimande
BLOCKED sewage pipes, meter boxes being illegally converted into refuse bins and uncovered manholes will soon be a thing of the past in the city centre, thanks to Johannesburg Water's inner city clean-up project.
Launched on Wednesday, 22 June, the project is an initiative of the City's water and sanitation utility, Johannesburg Water. It is geared towards eradicating dirt and pollution in the area, which will be achieved by dealing with all water- and sanitation-related problems at targeted hotspots.
"The project is aimed at improving health and hygiene standards around the inner city. It also forms part of the City's regeneration vision to reclaim the inner city as a safe place where people can live and play," said Abe Majozi, Johannesburg Water's Southdale customer agent.
The initiative was prompted by the success of the Joubert Park pilot project, a clean-up campaign aimed at reviving Joubert Park and the immediate area around the park. The pilot project has been carried out over the past 18 months by City Parks, Pikitup and Johannesburg Water.
"The inner city clean-up project will help to address all water- and sanitation-related problems within the inner city. That will also work favourably towards strengthening our mayor's vision to regenerate Joubert Park," said Majozi at the launch of the project, held at Joburg Water's Southdale depot.
To be carried out by six of the utility's employees, the project will tackle water and sanitation problems in and around Joubert Park, Marshalltown, Newtown, the Fashion District, St Mary's Cathedral, five hotspots in Braamfontein, Quartz Street, Rockey Street and Raleigh Road, and around the Drill Hall in Noord Street.
While attending to new complaints, the team will also deal with problems such as blocked sewers, leaking water pipes, vandalised meters, missing manhole and hydrant covers and other water- and sanitation-related problems.
"During the past six months we [Joburg Water] conducted an intensive survey around the inner city to identify all the water and sanitation problems around the targeted areas. Now it's time for the team to go out and address all those identified problems," Majozi said.
Depending on demand, the clean-up may be rolled out to other areas that have water and sanitation problems.
In an effort to curb theft and vandalism of iron manhole covers, in March Joburg Water invested R3,9-million in replacing missing and vandalised iron manhole, valve and meter box covers with concrete ones.
Majozi said Johannesburg Water had successfully replaced all reported missing covers within the targeted areas and the new concrete covers had helped to cut down the number of covers that were stolen.
Highlighting other Joburg Water initiatives that support the inner city clean-up project, Majozi said the utility had increased the number of meter standpipes at taxi ranks. This would curb the uncontrolled use of water and the vandalism of valves and hydrants by taxi operators when they washed their vehicles.
"To curb some of these challenges, Joburg Water has compiled an informative brochure that focuses on meter box maintenance, reporting missing manhole covers and other useful tips on how to save water."
He said the inner city clean-up project brochures would be distributed at all Region 8 meetings and at all the targeted areas in the inner city.
To keep the project in motion, the team will check each targeted area every three months. The public is urged to report all water and sanitation problems through Johannesburg Water's call centre number, 011 688 1500.
Putting their words into action, Majozi, accompanied by Joburg Water Southdale representatives, visited the inner city to check up on the project's progress.
Dressed in their regulation blue overalls, project team members were seen busily fixing a broken water pipe on the corner of Twist and Koch streets in Hillbrow.
Permission to use web site material
Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as:
- Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website
(www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency
(www.joburg.org.za)";
- If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original
article on this website;
- The name of the article's author is acknowledged;
-
The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill
in this brief online form).
Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 |
