Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula says the failure to use R86 million allocated for road upgrades and maintenance has had detrimental effects on the condition of roads across the country.
He was responding to community concerns at the Presidential Imbizo held in the North West Capital Mahikeng.
“Sanral will immediately come in and maintain the roads and bring in some of their suppliers. Already R45 million in Maqwassi Hills is allocated and I’ve made a commitment there that within one month I’ll be back. The construction starts within six months everything will be done. So that is what we are doing. So rollovers do happen and this is the point the president is talking about that the monies that are unspent affect service delivery… quite badly.”
Mbalula has committed his department to develop a mechanism that will deal with road maintenance, especially with potholes.
“There’s got to be a feature in the Department of Transport and Roads in each and every province, in terms of road maintenance that focus on potholes. A pothole comes up, we close it immediately. These are the things we’re going to rectify in the province and see in the PRMD that the money that we allocate, how can we ensure redistribution.”
#PresidentialImbizo: Transport minister @MbalulaFikile has promised residents living in the North West that potholes will be fixed. “When there are potholes, they should be closed. Not only when the President is here.” @TimesLIVE pic.twitter.com/6cafvPVHLJ
— Amanda Khoza – The Journalist (@MandaKhoza) March 12, 2022
Mbalula inspects the pothole-riddled N12 road in the North West:
