South Africa has a road infrastructure repair backlog amounting to R149-billion, with only 40% of public roads considered to be in “good” condition.
Most provincial roads are in desperate need of maintenance, while rural towns require tar and gravel surfacing.
Senior Department of Transport officials admitted that the extent of the backlog was well beyond their budget when they briefed the National Assembly’s transport portfolio committee ahead of the new financial year.
The provinces with the worst-affected roads were Northern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape.
Mawethu Vilana, the acting director-general of the department, said it would cost R118-billion to renovate paved or tarred roads, while another R31-billion would be needed to reconstruct gravel roads.
He said: “What we generally refer to as a backlog is in the categories of poor and very poor. It’s a mountain to climb.”
Vilana said that of the R48-billion budget it had received for the 2014/2015 financial year, the department had allocatedR21.6-billion to road transport, which included infrastructure.
Transport Minister Dipuo Peters said road infrastructure was virtually non-existent in rural areas…
South Africa Today – South Africa News
