VIDEO: Clashing Moloto Road pronouncements leave upgrades in the balance

Clashing pronouncements about upgrades to the deadly Moloto Road continue to leave residents confused.

Recently, the department of roads and transport in Gauteng refuted the road had been handed over to the SA national roads agency (Sanral) to upgrade.

“Sanral plans to upgrade Motolo Road from a single lane to a double lane,” Gauteng DA roads and transport spokesperson Janho Engelbrecht said.

In the statement he released earlier this week, he alleged the department did not have the capacity nor the budget to upgrade the road.

READ MORE: UPDATE: Gauteng left out of Moloto road upgrades

The Mpumalanga and Limpopo stretches of the road have already been handed over to the agency for the upgrades.

Engelbrecht said the Gauteng DA had put pressure on provincial roads and transport MEC Jacob Mamabolo to hand over the Gauteng portion of the road.

“This road has a high accident rate especially over Easter and Christmas time.”

However, department spokesperson Theo Nkonki denied the road was handed over to the agency saying “provincial and national government[s] are in talks and an outcome will be announced soon”.

READ MORE: UPDATE: North community reaches out to Moloto Road accident victims

He said there would be a “positive” way forward by the end of November, once the two concluded their talks which were at an “advanced stage”.

Engelbrecht said upgrades to the road were urgent as “about 60 000 people” use the notorious road daily.

“It’s well-known that the road is dangerous, human lives can’t be put on the back-burner.”

In August, Engelbrecht pinned the blame on Mamabolo for a fatal accident in the Kameeldrift area between a Fiat Uno and Putco bus.

He claimed the MEC was “dragging his feet in implementing a decision regarding the Moloto Road upgrades despite that people are dying almost every month”.

Nkonki responded by saying it was unknown what caused the accident.

“Let’s wait for the people investigating to complete their work.”

The accident claimed the life of a teenage girl while a mother and child were critically injured.

** Watch Janho Engelbrecht conduct a site visit and talk about the upgrades.

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