The removal of the disintegrated rubble from Johannesburg CBD would have to be done by hand as no heavy machinery and equipment can be brought in due to the volatility of the area, the City of Johannesburg has said.
In a concise update by Johannesburg City Manager Floyd Brink on Sunday, the area where a gas explosion left a massive crater in the city’s busy roads last week, were barricaded and law enforcement have been on the scene to divert pedestrians from walking across the damages and dangerous roads.
Brink said it was still not safe to cross the roads and law enforcement had to be brought on site to ensure everyone complied with the demarcation of the area.
“No heavy equipment and heavy machinery can be sent in. The removal of this rubble would be done through hand. However, our normal operations would continue such as Pickitup, but there is illegal dumping continuing in the area and that in itself also brings in some form of risk.
WATCH : City Manager Floyd Brink's concise update on the #JoburgExplosion oversight inspection that took place today #JoburgExplosion #JoburgUpdates #JoburgCares ^NB pic.twitter.com/hxjxkgo2nj
— City of Joburg (@CityofJoburgZA) July 23, 2023
“We appeal to residents to please be patient with us. We have been doing all we can in our ability,” he said.
Brink said that technical teams were still busy on site using drones to inspect the area while another team had started digging into the ground to establish the real cause of the explosion.
“We can also then report back that we have found two asbestos pipes and in those two asbestos pipes, we found cables,” he said.
Brink said the technical teams have managed to isolate those pipes and found some methane gas in there.
“The team is also doing a lot of work diagonally to quickly try and establish where the gas is. We can also report back that all the pipeline that belongs to Egoli gas have been isolated and closed,” he said.
Brink said that Joburg Water and City Power teams were also on standby so that as soon as the area was declared safe, they would be working very closely with the teams to bring services to the area.
“We must indicate we have also received from the Department of Labour a prohibition notice. We will be working closely with them because it is also their role to ensure the level of safety in here,” he said.