NEWCASTLE – The municipality has rushed to repair numerous potholes reported in recent weeks.
Days after a formal email inquiry was forward to the municipality, Technical Services employees patched gaping potholes across Newcastle.
However, the state of local roads remains in a dire rut.
Strategic Executive Director of Technical Services, Lindile Zincume stated recent heavy rains which followed a long dry season, were the major cause of the high rate of potholed roads.
“The limitation in the budget also places a constraint on the ability of the Department to deliver. The shortage of staff and resources also has an impact.”
According to Mr Zincume, another side of this problem was challenges with the breakdown of the premix plant.
However, he believed finalisation of the budget review process would alleviate problems.
Explaining the status quo with regard to pothole maintenance, Mr Zincume explained it was impossible to predict where they would occur.
Thus, the Department responded as reported, and regular inspections were done.
“The Department has a clerk of works who does inspections on a daily basis. The challenge is there is a large area to cover and it is not always possible to identify all the potholes in oSizweni, Madadeni and Newcastle.”
As a result, it was critical for residents and councillors to communicate with the municipality.
“The Department works closely with councillors in the different wards. The councillors report all identified potholes to the Department, and also follow up if those have been attended to.”
Residents are urged to report problems to their ward councillors or to the municipality directly, so the necessary action can be taken.
“Once the pothole has been reported and logged with the maintenance team, the general turnaround time is three days. This depends on the severity of the pothole as well.”
