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

Akey 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 eet 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 nancial constraints, the eet was transferred to the local municipalities, but it became clear, over time, that they couldn’t maintain the eet. In the 2014/15 nancial year, the district resolved to establish the Municipal Support Programme, which sees the eet 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

Jetpatcher truck

development, with a strategic objective of “infrastructure development to support e ective and sustainable community services”. Gert Sibande District Municipality is the largest of the three districts in Mpumalanga at 31 841km², covering 40 per cent of the province’s land mass. In the 2019/20 and 2020/21 budgets, R500 000 was allocated each year for the rehabilitation of roads, with R5-million allocated in each period for pothole repair.

Local municipalities’ role in the programme requires them to avail all their resources, monitor the programme closely and report progress to GSDM. The rotating resources provided by GSDM to each of its local municipalities include: • 4 graders • 2 tipper trucks • 2 water tankers • 1 tractor-loader-backhoe • 1 roller • 1 lowbed truck • 1 Jetpatcher truck • 12 operators. “In addition to the Municipal Support Programme, the district is also assisting local municipalities with the rehabilitation of roads. Priority is given to two local municipalities per nancial year, and the programme concentrates on taxi routes and roads leading to public facilities,” says Batala.

HUGE IMPACT

In the current nancial year, the programme has bladed (graded) 397.4km of unpaved roads and regravelled 67.5km across nine visits to local municipalities; patched 9 580m²

Jetpatcher truck in action on Oosthuise street.

of potholes in Msukaligwa (1 588 m²), Dr Pixley Ka Seme (400m²) and Mkhondo (7 592m²); and resurfaced 36 843m² of roads in Msukaligwa, Lekwa, Dipaleseng and Chief Albert Luthuli. The impact of the intervention is to provide access roads to schools, clinics and other infrastructure and reduce the backlog in pothole patching and road maintenance among the seven local municipalities. The Roads Asset Management system will also be updated to maintain a credible database on the road network and road conditions.

The programme has not been without its challenges, with Batala citing a lack of resources from local municipalities and deterioration in the plants used in the blading, regravelling, patching and resurfacing.

A REMINDER OF RESPONSIBILITIES

Speaking at the Gert Sibande District Municipality IDP Strategic Planning Programme earlier this year, Deputy Minister Thembi Nkadimeng referenced President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call at the o cial opening of the SALGA Elective Conference to change people’s lives for the better. In reminding all present that local government is the most important enabler of economic growth and development, she quoted Ramaphosa as saying: “By providing reliable water supply, sanitation, energy and refuse services and through road and infrastructure maintenance, local government enables our economy to grow and create employment”.

“In terms of the short-term implementation plan of the local government support and intervention packages, we need to fast-track repairs and maintenance of water infrastructure, sanitation, repair potholes, energise streetlights, and attend to sewer spillages,” Nkadimeng reminded attendees.

“I must also emphasise that the strategy nds resonance within the District Development Model – an ‘all of government’ and society approach that calls for better planning and delivery of services in a seamlessly co-ordinated and integrated manner.” ▪