Rain causes R50m damage to Gauteng roads – repairs under way in Mogale City
MEC promises that Mogale City roads will be fixed.
According to a recent report by SA News the damage the heavy rains have caused to the Gauteng provincial road network is estimated to be over R50 million.
On Tuesday 18 March Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport Ismail Vadi joined his department’s 260-strong maintenance crew to repair the potholes that developed on the N14 and Hendrik Potgieter Road as a result of the heavy rains.
“The estimated damage to the provincial road network is in excess of R50 million. We’ve made a province-wide assessment of damages to our roads and repair work has started in earnest.
“It is not just potholes that worry us, but a number of low-lying bridges have been damaged severely and sinkholes have appeared in some areas. Fortunately, no major provincial road has been washed away,” says MEC Vadi.
Some of the bridges that have collapsed are along Weaver Road in Kameeldrift; Shickfontein Road in Heidelberg and Heronbridge Road near Krugersdorp. Vadi says these are earmarked for urgent repairs.
He confirmed that repairs to the damaged bridge on Witkoppen Road would commence shortly.
Vadi also announced that the N14, which is part of the province’s freeway network that serves as a link between Mogale City and Tshwane and carries more than 25 000 vehicles per day, is to be rehabilitated over the next two years.
The 40-km freeway stretching from the Brakfontein interchange in Centurion to the Hendrik Potgieter Road intersection in Mogale City is estimated to cost R500 million and will be tackled in two phases.
MEC Vadi says tenders have been issued for the upgrading of the N12 between the Misgund interchange (near Eldorado Park south of Johannesburg) and Merafong, the R28 between Randfontein and Vereeniging, and the R55 (Quagga Road) between Laudium and Atteridgeville.
Other key provincial roads to be repaired are the remaining portions of the Golden Highway along Eldorado Park/Devland and the R101.
The MEC reiterated that the upgraded N12 and N14 freeways would not be tolled and that funding would come from the department’s budget.
