Joburg CBD explosion: The state of South Africa’s road infrastructure
The South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) 2022 report for South Africa’s infrastructure shows where the cracks in the surfaces are, in terms of maintenance, communication between state entities and differences in financial reporting standards.
SAICE is the industry body for South African civil engineers.
On Wednesday evening, a powerful explosion beneath Bree Street in the Joburg CBD threw minibus taxis into the air and opened up a huge crevice over some 50 metres.
One person lost their life and at least 48 people have suffered minor to serious injuries and were hospitalised.
In light of this disaster, we’ve decided to take a look at the state of South Africa’s road infrastructure to determine whether or not this could have been one of the contributing factors in the destruction of the road infrastructure in the CBD.
South Africa’s road network is 750,000 km, 160,000 km of which is paved.
Eighty percent of South Africa’s roads are gravel.
“Sanral (South African National Roads Agency) manages 21,403 km of this paved network (13% of these are toll roads), with the balance shared between provinces and municipalities,” the report reads.
For the purpose of linking the Johannesburg CBD disaster to this report, we could draw focus on how SAICE has scored the respective sector infrastructure, which ranges from water, sanitation, roads, etc.
The report grades this infrastructure based on a scale from A to E - with A being “World Class” and E being “unfit for purpose”.
Paved roads in major urban areas were given a D. According to SAICE, they were at the risk of failure.
The D score is described as: “Infrastructure is not coping with normal demand and is poorly maintained. It is likely that the public will be subjected to severe inconvenience and even danger without prompt action.”
SAICE then gave a conclusion with general observations, some of which include the development of a uniformed reporting system in the way authorities report their expenditure.
“The limited capacity of the majority of road authorities is of great concern.
“The importance of skills and experience in each phase of project processes cannot be overemphasised, nor can the need for systems for assessing and recording road condition and road construction and maintenance work needed and completed.”
Further conclusions include: “Widespread overloading of roads and poor stormwater management are further major contributory factors to the deterioration of the road network.”
From what we know so far, the City of Johannesburg has announced that all underground pipelines will be shut down to allow full inspection of existing infrastructure.
The infrastructure underneath Bree Street, where the explosion happened, includes infrastructure for Egoli Gas, Telkom, City Power, Joburg Water and Sasol, to name a few.
According to Joburg City manager, Floyd Brink, Egoli Gas had been ordered to shut down its underground gas pipelines in the inner city.
Brink said the explosion could be due to three possible occurrences:
- an ignition of methane gas in underground storm water systems due to sewerage ingress;
- the ignition of natural gas, mixed with air in underground storm water drainage systems or service ducts;
- the ignition of gas from a gas pipe burst.
It's understood that law enforcement has been deployed to the area.
This is a developing story.
IOL