JRA failure imminent due to new Service Level Agreement with City of Joburg

The signing of a new Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the City of Johannesburg and the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) could spell the imminent failure of the entity. The new SLA requires the JRA to maintain all manholes and drain covers belonging to all city departments with no additional budget allocation. The JRA cannot be successful in delivering on their mandate without the required funding.

The JRA received R512 million from the City of Johannesburg during the current financial year against a budget request of R1,5 billion. An estimated 67% of the operating budget is spent on employee related costs and once the entity has paid all the necessary expenses related to running a company there is only 1.5% of the operating budget left to be spent on delivering their mandate; this on a road network system worth more than R30 billion.  

While the DA has been critical of the JRA in the past, calling them to work smarter with their money,  the reality is that the entity cannot deliver when there is no budget allocated. In the last financial year many JRA depots had no materials by February resulting in depot staff being unable to do their jobs. This situation will only worsen if the entity continues to be badly financially managed.

The City needs to urgently reassess this latest SLA agreement and I will be writing to the MMC of Transport in the City of Johannesburg in this regard. A lack of funding under this current mandate will only impact on the JRA's ability to provide proper, quality services to the people of Johannesburg. Furthermore, the knock-on effects of the SLA could mean a further deterioration of those areas originally under JRA jurisdiction and ultimately, a failed entity.

Statement issued by Cllr Nico de Jager, DA Shadow MMC for Transport, City of Johannesburg, December 6 2012

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