Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink is pleased with the progress of three major road rehabilitation projects worth R20m in Mamelodi.
Brink, accompanied by MMC for roads and transport, Katlego Mathebe, conducted an oversight visit to the construction site on Wednesday, and was happy with the progress in improving the lifespan and standard of the roads in Region 6.
The project entails the removal of old asphalt and replacing it with a new layer, which is expected to be completed by the end of this monthy.
The mayor and his MMC also visited the Nellmapius taxi rank to hand over a cost-effective ablution facility that will improve the conditions at the facility.
Mathebe said the Mamelodi road rehabilitation projects would cost R20m.
“We have seen all the streets done, and there are still streets that we are going to rehabilitate.
“Some of the roads or streets we have done are J Maluleke Street in Mahube Valley, Sibande Street, Hinterland to Tsamaya Road, Alwyn in Waltloo, and Vonkprop, which include road markings. The projects are expected to be completed by the end of May.
“We have a database of all the roads in the city and the state of the roads since they were last maintained, so we know which one needs to be done first.
“That’s how we prioritise the roads, class of roads and what kind of maintenance is required.”
She said the handover of the ablutions would improve the conditions at the taxi rank.
“Most of our taxi rank facilities are dilapidated and very old. As a city, we care about our people and care about the dignity of our people,” she said.
“We designed a cost-effective ablution facility aimed at improving the conditions at the taxi ranks. We are planning to roll it out to other taxi ranks going forward.”
She said the ablutions cost R400 000 and “lessons [were] learned”.
“We are sure we will be able to do more with less money because we have learned how to manage our cost so that we can get the same structure at less than R400 000.”
Brink said unfortunately the metro couldn’t upgrade all the roads at once.
“We have to prioritise the main routes. We got a system in the city to see prioritism [sic] done.
“I am delighted with what we saw in Mamelodi – good workmanship. It is also important to show that we care about the communities, and we care about the roads and infrastructure.
“There is a lot of planning that was done, and the execution is good,” said Brink.
Traffic and street lights are continuously off, and upon investigation, it would seem that once the lights are repaired, the network is immediately vandalised.
Brink said he spoke to Mathebe to find a way of securing that infrastructure, including working with the community, because vandalised traffic lights don’t just cost the city money, but also cause disruption to life in the communities.
“Public street lighting is a major priority for Tshwane metro; it’s about road and community safety because when it’s dark, criminal obviously take the opportunity to be active.
“We want to look at solar street lights, but we have complaints that they are easily stolen. To replace a solar street light, it’s going to be far more effective to replace the entire electricity infrastructure supporting the street lights.”
Ben Maredi of the Mamelodi Amalgamated Taxi Association said the taxi industry is happy and proud of what Tshwane is doing.
“We are looking forward to working with Tshwane in the future. Our relationship will grow bigger than this because this is not the first time they assist us,” said Maredi.
The last stop was at Lynnwood Road, where work is underway for a dual carriageway intersection on Lynnwood and Meerlust roads, as well as the installation of street lights and traffic signals. This project is valued at R24m.
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