EKURHULENI has spent a massive R231-million less on road maintenance the past financial year.
In comparison to this, the cities of Joburg and Tshwane have spent R2-million and R301-million more respectively. The City of Cape Town has increased its road spend for the past financial year by R2 997-billion.
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These statistics were provided by DA Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Kevin Mileham MP.
Bill Rundle, DA Shadow MMC for Roads and Transport in Ekurhuleni, said the DA had consistently maintained that the Ekurhuleni Metro neglected the maintenance of critical road infrastructure.
“Road maintenance and repairs have sorely been lacking and despite many undertakings by Mayor Mondli Gungubele, results have been poor.”
According to the statistics, Ekurhuleni shows the lowest increase in activities overall. Ekurhuleni is also the only metro, apart from Nelson Mandela Bay, that significantly decreased the total amount spent on major road upgrades between 2013/2014 to 2014/2015.
Furthermore, 68km of roads in Ekurhuleni will not be resurfaced and 68km of gravel roads will not be tarred.
“Although the number of potholes repaired per square metre between 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 slightly increased, this is disproportionately far less than the proliferation of potholes experienced on the roads in Ekurhuleni,” Rundle said.
“Road infrastructure maintenance is a fundamental element to business growth and job creation in any municipality. It is also the right of motorists to travel on roads that are safe. We call upon Mayor Gungubele to reveal plans the metro has in place to correct the decay of our roads, rather than merely paying lip service to the idea.”
