Community petitions taken seriously, says council

COUNCIL takes every petition submitted by residents seriously and uses these petitions to draft a priority list for impending projects.

According to Johannesburg Roads Agency spokesman Sam Modiba, the management of Little Creations nursery school and crèche decided to petition council to pay for speed humps outside the school’s entrance. Their decision to apply for the humps was made after numerous reports of near accidents on the road.

As reported in the Chronicle this week (week ending 17 May), the school’s management were left disillusioned after the Johannesburg Road Agency informed them they would have to pay for the much-needed speed humps on the road running past the school.

Modiba said it wasn’t standard procedure to ask schools to pay for speed-calming measures but explained traffic-calming projects were funded by the city according to a priority list. He said high priority projects were implemented within the immediate financial year, through decisions made considering the Integrated Development Plan and the Streets Alive programmes. He said in compiling these priority lists, the petitions and concerns of the general public were highly regarded.

The school’s management were left disillusioned after the Johannesburg Road Agency informed them they would have to pay for the much-needed speed humps on the road running past the school.

“Where a project is not identified for implementation in the current financial year, the community/private sector can assist with funding to speed up delivery but if they are unable, the project will remain on the priority list until council funding can be allocated to support it.”
Regarding the cost of such speed-calming projects, Modiba explained that projects implemented by the city (including the agency) were done through a public tender process, in accordance with the Municipal Finance Management Act. The cost, which varies, would therefore depend on the prices quoted by the winning bidder and depended on the geometric layout of the specific road.
Little Creations school manager Susan Phelps said school management had sent out a petition for parents and concerned residents to sign this week as the school was now open, having been closed for the holidays.