The Johannesburg Roads Agency plans to complete rehabilitating the Lilian Ngoyi Street in Johannesburg by the end of August 2025.
Image: Itumeleng English / Independent Newspapers
The City of Johannesburg has set aside R6.4 billion to repair and maintain its aging infrastructure and plans to complete rehabilitating Lilian Ngoyi Street (formerly Bree Street) by the end of August.
Margaret Arnolds, the municipality’s Finance MMC, announced the plans on Wednesday when she tabled the R89.4 billion budget for the 2025/26 financial year.
“The city has established an expanded maintenance budget for water and electricity infrastructure, recognising that prevention is more cost-effective than repair.
“The repairs and maintenance budget amounts to R6.4bn, 7% of the property plant and equipment budget, and this will increase over the medium term to 7.2%,” Arnolds said.
She stated that 47% of the budget will go towards asset renewal, which augments the repairs and maintenance budget by bringing a new lease of life to aging infrastructure, and that by the third year, this will increase to 58% of the budget.
Additionally, Arnolds explained that as part of the municipality’s commitment to rebuilding a safe, resilient, and inclusive inner city, the first phase of the Lilian Ngoyi Street rehabilitation will be completed by August 30, 2025.
The project is led by the Johannesburg Roads Agency and represents more than just the repair of critical infrastructure, according to the African Independent Congress councillor.
“It is a bold investment in urban renewal, economic revitalisation and public safety. We are restoring a vital artery,” Arnolds said.
In July 2023, the busy street was damaged after a gas explosion that left one person dead and over 40 injured. Arnolds said the city’s top priority was restoring basic services.
“We heard our residents, those waiting for refuse to be collected, for water leaks to be fixed, and for power outages to end. That is why the city has implemented a service failure tracking system through the war room. This centralised hub monitors water leaks, electricity disruptions, refuse non-collection, and road damage in real time,” added Arnolds.
She said the war room allows for rapid deployment of resources to high-complaint areas and integrates data from all municipal entities for decisive action.
Arnolds added that the city has operationalised a cross-cutting war room that functions as an executive oversight and early-warning mechanism over the past year.
The war room monitors daily service failures and responses in electricity, water, refuse, and roads and tracks project implementation timelines against service delivery budget and implementation plan targets and flags deviations in spending, contractor underperformance, and infrastructure delays.
It also provides weekly data briefings to Mayor Dada Morero and his mayoral committee.
Arnolds said the war room is not just a dashboard but a command centre and that it has already proven effective in improving turnarounds in high-priority areas like Diepsloot and parts of Region F, which includes areas such as Berea, Hillbrow, Newtown, Fordsburg, Pageview, and Vrededorp.
loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za