Seasonal rains a nightmare for City Parks

Johannesburg City Parks appeals to residents to be patient as it systematically works towards resolving the seasonal maintenance backlogs stemming from the recent heavy rains.

City Parks spokesman Jenny Moodley said the summer rains impacted significantly on City Parks’ ability to deliver services at optimum level. She said this was largely due to the warm and wet weather which:

* Accelerated the rate of growth of long grass, shrubs and trees.
* Impeded on work schedules as employees were not authorised to operate machinery in the rain
* Hindered contractors as it was not cost effective to commission work in the intermittent rain
* Resulted in operator downtime as the overgrowth placed extra pressures on machinery
* Increased the time taken to maintain open spaces with long overgrowth
* Generated an increase in the number of residents requesting street tree pruning
* Boosted the number of users in parks resulting in added strain on playground infrastructure and increasing by-law transgressions such as littering and illegal parking.

Moodley said the seasonal challenges were further exacerbated by limited resources and more public open spaces. "Residents also need to understand that not all open spaces with long grass fall under the custodianship of City Parks. Some are privately owned or owned by Eskom, Telkom, the National Roads Agency, Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport, the Gauteng Department of Housing, the Johannesburg Property Company or Transnet.

"City Parks has therefore established a New Business Development Department to assist the above entities in speedily resolving the complaints that fall outside JCP’s area of responsibility."

City Parks also appealed to residents to assist by maintaining residential pavements. "This will go a long way to alleviate some of the pressures on service delivery, and will allow the entity to focus on parks, cemeteries and street trees that require more specialised maintenance services," she said.