R270m budgeted to deal with crumbling road infrastructure

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04-08-2025
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Boksburg Advertiser
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Authorities urge residents to play their part, and join the metro in protecting the public infrastructure.

The City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) is beleaguered by a series of severe road infrastructure challenges, such as sinkholes, potholes, traffic light malfunctions and road maintenance backlog.

Owing to that, the CoE announced on June 25 that it has set aside at least R275m for urgent maintenance of the city’s road network in the 2025/26 financial year, with special focus on potholes, storm water drainage and damaged bridges.

Metro spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said crews are already hard at work carrying out proactive maintenance.

To prevent flooding ahead of the rainy season, crews are unblocking kerb inlets, repairing damaged drain systems and removing weeds and debris from stormwater systems.

Full budget

Presenting the city’s budget, Finance MMC Jongizizwe Dlabathi acknowledged that the issue of potholes is steadily becoming an albatross for the city.

He said this is not only impacting road users, but also the economy of the region, as roads are the backbone of the movement of goods and services.

“For this reason, of the total budget of R946m allocated for Roads and Transport Management, R527m will be for road rehabilitation and patching of potholes.

“Further to this, R41.3m will be used for repairing and maintaining traffic signals and R207m for the procurement of material and supplies to enable internal capacity to further patch potholes, to undertake road marking, signage and stormwater maintenance,” he said.

Meagre budget

The DA described the amount allocated for road repairs as a “meagre” budget that represents 7% of what is needed to repair the city’s crumbling road network.
According to the party, a response to its written questions to the provincial government revealed that it will cost at least R65b to repair the worst of the CoE’s 1 619km road network.

The DA said the reply indicated that 8 245.53km of roads were assessed for their structural condition in 2019 and were categorised as follows:

• Very good: 19.54%
• Good: 12.97%
• Fair: 37.27%
• Poor: 9.98%
• Very poor: 20.06%

“Since this assessment, the conditions of the city’s roads have deteriorated considerably, and the cost of repairs would have ballooned.
“With the current budget set aside for road maintenance, the city cannot even keep up with repairing potholes and roads,” said MPL Michael Waters, DA constituency head Kempvale.

Stormwater drainage system

According to Dlamini, their teams discovered common debris clogging the drainage system at a recent stormwater drainage clearing operation on the corner of Edendale and Main roads in Eastleigh.

These included empty bottles, plastic waste, motor oil and other hazardous substances and general litter and refuse obstructing water flow, increasing the risk of flooding and causing environmental pollution.

“While this societal problem does not absolve the city of its responsibility to maintain the road infrastructure and ensure that drain systems remains free from items that could leave them clogged, authorities urge residents to play their part, and join the metro in protecting the stormwater systems and the environment at large by taking responsibility for their waste disposal habits,” said Dlamini.

Benefits of keeping drains clear include:

• Preventing flooding that damages property and disrupts daily activities.
• Protecting public health by reducing stagnant water that can harbor disease-carrying mosquitoes and bacteria.
• Extending the lifespan of roads and infrastructure by preventing water-related erosion and structural damage.
• Enhancing environmental quality by preventing polluted run-off from entering natural waterways.