South Africa would face an intractable challenge as road maintenance suffered serious backlogs, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said at the Road Construction and Maintenance Indaba on 24 February 2022.
N1 at Midrand Picture: Axel Bührmann/ Flickr Commons
‘The total paved and gravelled network at the provincial level is 184 816 kilometres. 40% of this (provincial) network has reached the end of its design life, as approximately 80% of the (national) road network is now older than the 20-year design life,’ Mbalula said.
The money needed for road maintenance was being used to service debt built by the failed e-toll project, he said, cited by BusinessTech, answering questions in a parliamentary committee on 15 February.
‘I am sitting here with roads that are not going to be maintained for the next 10 years. The second phase of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project has come to an abrupt standstill and there is going to be congestion in the next five to 10 years, starting in Gauteng.’
The South Africa National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) is responsible for the primary network of roads; provinces and municipalities are responsible for the secondary and tertiary networks. Even though Mbalula acknowledged that provincial roads are an exclusive provincial function, and municipal roads and parking are exclusive municipal functions, the national sphere of government has a responsibility to ensure they fulfil their mandate.
Econometrix, an economics consultancy, estimated that R75 billion is needed to improve South Africa’s road infrastructure. Econometrix chief economist Azar Jammine told Moneyweb that this was a relatively small amount when compared to other infrastructure projects.
‘R15 billion a year would amount to no more than 2% of fixed capital formation every year,’ he said. ‘Surely that is a reasonable amount to put aside to improve the road network? It’s really not that much.’
Transport and logistics account for 38.4% of South Africa’s R812.5 billion earmarked for public infrastructure over the next three years. Jammine concluded that the state of South Africa’s road network could negatively affect the tourism industry and economic growth.
Sanral would receive an additional R9.9 billion for maintaining the non-toll road network, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said in his 2022 Budget on 23 February.
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