Farmers and business owners volunteer to repair road
"In the next two weeks, we will come together and ask other people to get involved in the project. This was just temporary and to make the road drivable," he added.
BURGERSFORT – Fed-up with the pothole-littered roads, residents armed themselves with the necessary tools and took action.
Concerned citizens, including farmers and business owners in Steelpoort and Burgersfort, decided to volunteer to improve the local roads.
The residents started with the project of revamping the D737 (Olifantspoortjie Road) last Thursday. For years, promises had been made to repair the problematic road, but none of these bore any fruits.
In 2018, the Road Agency Limpopo (RAL) confirmed that the rehabilitation of the 17-kilometre road will be done in the 2019/20 financial year. Still, today the road is in a bad condition.
“We, the farmers and local business owners, in partnership with the Emergency Mining Roads Repair Project have partnered to repair the damaged section of the road. Our aim is to see roads in Burgersfort, Steelpoort and Lydenburg in better condition.
“Poor road conditions do not only affect our vehicles, but the farming and mining communities. This also has a negative ripple on the agricultural industry and the local economy. It is really necessary to better the conditions of the road,” said farmer Lodewyk de Jager. Some of the volunteers donated their own equipment, funds and labourers.
Labourers from the public works office in the Fetakgomo Tubatse Local Municipality also lent a helping hand.
De Jager said they will first repair the badly damaged parts.
“In the next two weeks, we will come together and ask other people to get involved in the project. This was just temporary and to make the road drivable,” he added.
In February 2018, RAL explained that it will cost more than R40m to fix the pothole-ridden road. The agency said there was a backlog in both the upgrading and maintenance of roads in Limpopo.
