BADFONTEIN – Motorists will have to wait yet another year for the rehabilitation of the R36, also known as the Bambi Road.
According to Mr Kgopana Mohlasedi of the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport work will have to be phased over more than one financial year, due to the high cost.
“The rehabilitation has been divided into five phases. The reconstruction of the first phase, which is considered to be in the worst condition, between chainage 18km to 27km (adjacent to the Kwena Dam) is envisaged to commence in the next financial year, 2015/16, with the cost estimate of R100 million and construction period of 12 months,” Mohlasedi said.
The total estimate cost of the rehabilitation work is said to be R500 million. “The medium to long-term strategy is to rehabilitate the entire road, but the remaining phases will be implimented subsequently subject to budget availability,” he said.
The relevant section of the R36, provincial road P8/1between Lydenburg and the R539 -, the Schoemanskloof alternative to the N4 – is approximately 45 kilometres in length. It was originally constructed around 1960, with the Southern portion built in 1983 when the road had to be deviated from the Kwena Dam. According to Mohlasedi the reason for the appalling state of the road is mainly due to transportation of material processed by mines in the surrounding areas. “Various new mines have been developed in the Steelpoort, Roossenekal and Burgersfort area and ore and other partially processed material are transported by road for export.
“The route through Mashishing and then over P8/1 is virtually the only viable one for many hundreds of 56 ton (gross) trucks to the export harbour of Maputo.” Although statistics have shown that overall traffic counts have lowered, as a result of the road’s poor condition, the heavy vehicle count has increased dramatically to 300 trucks per day.
“The road is in a very poor condition, with pavement failures and deep, large potholes spread over its entire surface. Vehicles are using the shoulders in places, but these are also deteriorating fast.”
“The department has done all it could to maintain this and other roads in the province, but due to inadequate budget could not keep up with the demands of a deteriorating road network,” Mohlatsedi said.
