BETTER ROAD ACCESSIBILITY The Gert Sibande District Municipality’s Municipal Support Programme is improving road accessibility in the district, helping to boost infrastructure, tourism and transport in the province. By Trevor Crighton
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key part of the Gert Sibande District Municipality’s (GSDM) Municipal Support Programme focuses on improving road accessibility for local municipalities. The council-approved programme allocates the GSDM fleet of road infrastructure plants to a local municipality within its jurisdiction each month for the full month. The decision to follow this programme was made when it was determined that district roads were in a bad state due to high volumes of coal haulage trucks transporting coal to the four power stations within and beyond its jurisdictional area.
“The district is also assisting local municipalities with the rehabilitation of roads. Priority is given to two local municipalities per financial year, and the programme concentrates on taxi routes and roads leading to public facilities.” – Phiwe Batala.
ROVING RESOURCES “In 2007, GSDM donated full regravelling plants to each local municipality, with GSDM responsible for their maintenance,” says Phiwe Batala, manager: roads at GSDM. “Due to financial constraints, the fleet was transferred to the local municipalities, but it became clear, over time, that they couldn’t maintain the fleet. In the 2014/15 financial year, the district resolved to establish the Municipal Support Programme, which sees the fleet rotate across all local municipalities, with the district taking full responsibility for maintenance costs and fuel costs.” The programme falls under GSDM’s second KPI for basic service delivery and infrastructure
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ISSUE 39
2022/06/30 4:17 PM
