An amount of R178-million is what the City of Johannesburg needs to fix the damage caused by an underground explosion on Bree Street earlier in July.
This was revealed by city manager Floyd Brink during a media briefing at Mayors Parlour in Braamfontein on Wednesday.
Brink, accompanied by the executive mayor Kabelo Gwamanda, said the city has already spent about R4-million since the day of the explosion, and it is estimated that the expenditure could increase.
Brink said the gas that caused the explosion is methane and the city is still trying to figure out the source of the explosion.
“We brought the best skills and experts to address this explosion and the teams we brought in only increased what we already had,” said Brink.
“The tunnel will be redesigned to avoid any future incidents, so we will redesign them to international standards.”
He added that Egoli Gas has been cleared after the entity confirmed that the gas explosion was not as a result of its operations.
Gwamanda said he will not put the manager under pressure to commit to timelines.
“We have been put under pressure to find out what the cause of the explosion was and we want people to know that we are doing all in our power to create a safe city for our residents,” said Gwamanda.
He thanked both the provincial and national government for the support.
“Our rapid response and emergency services were exceptional from the day of the explosion. They displayed great technical ability. We are grateful.”
The explosion killed one person and left more than 40 people injured. Over 30 vehicles including minibus taxis were also damaged.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa.
