It has been two months since we partnered with the Johannesburg Roads Agency and the pothole brigade to tackle the deteriorating condition of our public roads.
The department is satisfied that significant progress has been made in repairing potholes not only in the City of Johannesburg, but throughout Gauteng.
Today, we are here to celebrate an important milestone, not only for the pothole brigade, but for every entity that has taken it upon itself to minimise the number of potholes on our roads. The pothole brigade has repaired 10 000 potholes, primarily in the City of Johannesburg. The partnership with the pothole brigade, which is in the public interest, is valued by the Department of Roads and Transport in Gauteng.
In addition to the wonderful work done by the pothole brigade, it is worth mentioning the excellent work done by a number of municipalities and the department in repairing potholes. As at February 2011, the department and municipalities cumulatively had repaired 69 906 potholes. This means that we repaired 17 513 more potholes compared to January this year.
These are impressive figures. They demonstrate government's commitment at both municipal and provincial levels to redress a problem that has so negatively affected the image of the institutions.
The most recent study done by the Department of Roads and Transport shows that in total, 66 million vehicle kilometres are travelled each day on our roads. This totals to 24 billion vehicle kilometres annually. You will agree that such heavy volume of traffic is placing enormous stress on our paved road network.
As government we are keenly aware of the increase in traffic volumes on our roads. We recognise the need to maintain good infrastructure to make Gauteng a pleasant place in which to live and do business. Our commitment to the citizens of Gauteng is that we will do our best to maintain your roads.
In the coming financial year, the Department of Roads and Transport has allocated R1.5 billion to our roads maintenance, rehabilitation and construction programme. Though not entirely sufficient to deal with the backlogs in our road maintenance and rehabilitation programme, it demonstrates our commitment to service delivery. It reflects that the department is re-directing financial resources to improve our roads infrastructure.
As a department, we are delighted with this partnership and the progress we have made in reducing the number of potholes on our roads. I hope it can be extended to other municipalities and grow in strength in the future.
The number of potholes repaired in February 2011 are as follows:
Department of Roads and Transport: 37 352
- City of Johannesburg: 4 412
- City of Tshwane: 10163
- Ekurhuleni: 4 500
- Mogale City: 1 105
- Randfontein: 4 600
- Emfuleni: 2 950
- Lesedi: 846
- Midvaal: 1 920
- Metsweding: 2 058
