An amount of R452m will be spent over the next year on preventative maintenance of roads in the province.
Roads and transport MEC Pinky Kekana told the provincial legislature this week that her department had already identified 32 roads projects. “It is generally known and accepted that preventative maintenance is much cheaper than reactive maintenance.
“It is our collective view that when potholes do occur, they must be properly repaired.”
She said another R60m would be spent on 60 pothole patching projects that would be completed before the end of the week. An additional R200m would be spent on pothole patching and routine maintenance on 11 projects the rest of the year.
Kekana said R250m had been set aside for infrastructure improvements, including the construction of an interchange, pedestrian bridges and walkways in Botlokwa.
The Botlokwa contract is planned to be awarded in June.
“The people of Botlokwa will finally say government has listened to us,” Kekana said. “We cannot shy away from acknowledging that on a daily basis pedestrians, in particular, were risking their lives (by crossing over) a busy freeway.”
Several pedestrian bridges would also be completed across the province this year. “Bridges connect communities and provide access to social amenities and markets,” Kekana said.
“That is not debatable if we are to take our people out of abject poverty.”
Kekana was tabling her department’s R3.8bn budget in the legislature.
[Story by Siphiwe Nyathi appeared on The New Age]