R1.8bn earmarked for dire state of roads infrastructure in Free State
New Free State community safety, roads and transport MEC Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae has promised to address the dire state of roads in the province.
Briefing media on Thursday, she said her department has earmarked R1.8bn in the new financial year for roads infrastructure. Details would be outlined in her budget vote speech, including the issue of repair of potholes.
The dire state of roads in the province has been disastrous for business owners and farmers, with some closing shop.
Earlier this year, TimesLIVE reported about the pothole-ridden R70 to Rosendal — a town which depends on tourism and agriculture — causing business to fade away.
Premier Mxolisi Dukwana raised the roads infrastructure issue in his state of the province address.
Bonni Meyer, a Rosendal/Mautse town committee member, said: “Though we are hopeful, we are still putting pressure and we want to know timelines and processes and understand who is getting the tenders and what is happening with the roads until they start work.
“A group of farmers from the area had been filling potholes as much as they could, but they are now all busy on the farms and can't continue. They have used their own labour, tractors and trucks to fill the potholes with gravel and soil from their farms. They worked on it for about three weeks and probably managed about 20km, which has helped a lot, but it is not a solution,” she said.
Last year, farmers in the Eastern Free State told TimesLIVE the R708 from Marquard to Clocolan (Hlohlolwane), was in a critical state and raised the cost of doing business.
Free State Agriculture commercial manager Jack Armour said at the time there were about 1,034 potholes on a 30km stretch of the road, an average of one pothole every 29m.
“The road is an important route between Marquard and Clocolan, where there is a lot of beef production. A lot of trucks go through that road. The other important thing about this road specifically is it is one of the routes that takes people from Ficksburg, from the Lesotho border post, to mines in Welkom,” Armour said.
Letsoha-Mathae said roads infrastructure is a critical role player in the growth of the economy of the province and development. She had visited some of the roads projects and would monitor progress and the quality of work.
“I want to emphasise the quality and I indicated no service provider should be paid until the department and [stakeholders] who know the work and are dealing with such projects are satisfied the service being rendered is of quality,” she said.
She conceded the state of roads also affected the safety of residents.
“We have a partnership that needs to be finalised with the Central University of Technology where it will take 600 youths who will be trained and assist in [filling] potholes.”
TimesLIVE
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