MULDERSDRIFT, SOUTH AFRICA – MARCH 18: Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport Ismail Vadi does repairs on the N14 highway between Pretoria and Krugersdorp on March 18, 2014 in Muldersdrift, South Africa. Vadi has vowed to deal with road construction companies that are placing motorists and passengers’ lives in danger. The warning was issued after one of the construction companies doing business with his department apparently failed to fix several potholes on the N14 highway between Pretoria and Krugersdorp. The MEC and his team came across mega potholes during an inspection of damage caused to provincial roads by the rainfall in the past few weeks. (Photo by Gallo Images / Foto24 / Denzil Maregele)..
How much will it cost to fix SA roads? A lot more than R35 billion
Seems South African motorists will be dodging potholes for years to come.
MULDERSDRIFT, SOUTH AFRICA – MARCH 18: Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport Ismail Vadi does repairs on the N14 highway between Pretoria and Krugersdorp on March 18, 2014 in Muldersdrift, South Africa. Vadi has vowed to deal with road construction companies that are placing motorists and passengers’ lives in danger. The warning was issued after one of the construction companies doing business with his department apparently failed to fix several potholes on the N14 highway between Pretoria and Krugersdorp. The MEC and his team came across mega potholes during an inspection of damage caused to provincial roads by the rainfall in the past few weeks. (Photo by Gallo Images / Foto24 / Denzil Maregele)..
Congress of the People (COPE) party member, Willie Madisha, questioned the Department of Transport minister, Blade Nzimande, on costs relating to infrastructure maintenance. According to Madisha, the minister’s answer is way off the mark.
Every South African motorist is highly trained in the art of pothole dodging, it’s vital to survival on the country’s roads. Coupled with over-burdened inner-city byways, and the never-ending highway wait at infamous stop-and-goes, the South African motoring experience can often be a frustrating one.
Yet, Nzimande maintains that his department is making progress on the country’s roads, despite a severe lack of funding. He has approached National Treasury, cap-in-hand, requesting further allowances.
But how much is it going to cost to fix South Africa’s declining transport system and deteriorating roads? Thankfully, Madisha asked this exact question at a parliamentary committee meeting.
How much is it going to cost to fix South Africa’s roads?
According to the Department of Transport, it’s going to cost R35 billion – yet even they admit, in a roundabout way, that this figure is insufficient.
According to Business Tech, the Provincial Roads Maintenance Grant (PRMG) assists provinces with road upkeep.
While the Treasury has increased allowances for road maintenance, Nzimande maintains that the department is struggling to implement effective infrastructure maintenance, without assistance from individual provinces, saying:
“Very limited resources are available to rehabilitate the provincial paved road network unless the PRMG is significantly grown over the medium to long-term or provinces allocate a much larger portion of own funds to road maintenance – ideally a combination of both measures.”
Nzimande argues that provincial governments should share the load carried by the national administration. This, he says, is the only effective and sustainable method of consistent conservation:
“The magnitude of maintenance backlogs due to lack of funding is such that it is unlikely to be addressed through national transfers and subsidies, especially given the National Treasury’s commitment to fiscal consolidation, which in the continued absence of notable economic growth must be predominantly realised through higher allocations from the provincial treasuries and/or from savings and efficiencies in respective provincial departmental expenditure.”
The worst roads in South Africa
Using the table provided by the department, entitled financial support to provinces, it’s easy to see which roads are in dire need of proper maintenance.
According to financial allocations, roads in KwaZulu-Natal are prioritised, followed closely by infrastructure in the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga.
