Motorists in Ermelo are forced to dodge one pothole after another due to poor road conditions.

The Msukaligwa Municipality shared insight into their planned road projects for the current financial year.

“There are about 230km of paved and gravel roads that need to be maintained,” Mr Mandla Zwane, spokesman for the municipality, said.

He added that to maintain the current road assets, the norm is to spend 10% of the asset value per year – which is currently R90-million.

“Council does not have sufficient, available financial resources to implement planned maintenance projects, hence reactive and temporary road works are carried out.

“As an alternative, milling material from other projects or gravel from our borrow pit, is used.

“Non-bituminous material is not lasting, and more frequent pothole-filling has to be carried out.”

During the rainy season, potholes develop which results in non-drivable roads.

“Gravel roads needs constant blading and re-graveling, but due to equipment constraints, re-graveling programmes have to be reprioritised,” Mr Zwane said.

According to him, the cost of re-surfacing on existing tar roads can vary between R40 per m² for a slurry to R250 per m² (hot asphalt).

He said for an 1km of road x 8m wide to be re-surfaced, the cost will be about R320 000 for a slurry seal and R2-million for hot asphalt.

“The cost to upgrade a gravel road to a paved surface is about R8-million per km, depending on the existing soil condition and specific requirements for the road.

“R1,68-billion is needed to upgrade all the gravel roads to a standard, paved surface.”

Mr Zwane added that the municipality will appreciate and welcome any financial support or resources, aimed at improving the state of roads within its jurisdiction.

Read the complete article in the Highvelder newspaper.