Millions in repairs not reflected in state of roads
Conditions of damage and disrepair on certain roads do not reconcile with a statement released recently by the minister of transport, Fikile Mbalula. In this, the minister confirmed the R540 from Lydenburg to Dullstroom and the R36 from Lydenburg to Machadodorp were upgraded to the value of R42,235 million.
Mbalula responded to an enquiry by the DA member of parliament, Sonja Boshoff, in which she said these upgrades do not reflect the current road conditions. This coincides with an inspection by Boshoff and Trudie Grové Morgan, the deputy leader of the provincial DA, on Tuesday June 29. She was appalled and shocked by what she witnessed. The provincial Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport has committed, in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 financial years, R56,484 million to the patching and resealing of the worst section of the road between Belfast and Lydenburg.
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To date, work worth R42,235 million has been completed. Road users, including tourists, can attest to the fact that the current state of the roads does not reflect millions of rand in upgrades. A fatal accident on Friday April 2 claimed the lives of three family members and employees of Lunsklip Fisheries in a head[1]on collision (Steelburger/Lydenburg News, Thursday April 15). According to witnesses, the two vehicles involved had swerved out of the way of potholes. Another recent incident is the attempted hijacking of two heavy vehicles between Dullstroom and Belfast (Steelburger/ Lydenburg News, Thursday June 24).
The drivers said their brakes had been damaged by the criminals when they were forced to stop for potholes. It has been acknowledged that the National Department of Transport (NDOT) is aware of the roads’ conditions, as officials have inspected it as part of annual safety audits of the province’s key strategic network, and it is aware of the interventions being carried out by the provincial Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport to ensure that this key economic route (a major commuter route that supports tourism, mining and agriculture) is made safe for all road users.
However, NDOT admitted that in the longer term, the road needs rehabilitation, as the current maintenance intervention is essentially holding measures and would need to be repeated every three to five years. The minister indicated that upgrades on the R36 via Kwena Dam have been divided into four phases. Phase 1 started on July 13, 2015, and ended on November 21, 2016; phase 2 started during June 2017 and ended on collision (Steelburger/Lydenburg News, Thursday April 15). According to witnesses, the two vehicles involved had swerved out of the way of potholes. Another recent incident is the attempted hijacking of two heavy vehicles between Dullstroom and Belfast (Steelburger/ Lydenburg News, Thursday June 24).
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The drivers said their brakes had been damaged by the criminals when they were forced to stop for potholes. It has been acknowledged that the National Department of Transport (NDOT) is aware of the roads’ conditions, as officials have inspected it as part of annual safety audits of the province’s key strategic network, and it is aware of the interventions being carried out by the provincial Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport to ensure that this key economic route (a major commuter route that supports tourism, mining and agriculture) is made safe for all road users. However, NDOT admitted that in the longer term, the road needs rehabilitation, as the current maintenance intervention is essentially holding measures and would need to be repeated every three to five years. The minister indicated that upgrades on the R36 via Kwena Dam have been divided into four phases. Phase 1 started on July 13, 2015, and ended on November 21, 2016; phase 2 started during June 2017 and ended has ended.
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The province was not able to provide NDOT with the budgets for phase 3. NDOT has indicated to me that they are now aware of the poor state of this road and are therefore in discussions with the province to prioritise the completion of this road project using the existing provincial road maintenance grant allocation provided by the national Department of Transport to Mpumalanga,” said Boshoff. The province has a road asset management system accessible to the public to see what progress has been made: visit www.mp-rams.co.za/rams.
