More planned for Pretoria Road

The metro plans to upgrade Pretoria Road, from the N12 to Springs Road, in Petit.

According to Themba Gadebe, metro spokesperson, the upgrading of Pretoria Road is a multi-year project, “expected to span over various future financial years, subject to the availability of funds”.

“The long-term plan is to upgrade the whole of Pretoria Road, from Springs Road to the N12 interchange,” Gadebe added.

“The first section was from Raeburn Street to Vlei Road, including the intersection of Vlei Road.”

In a previous article about the road, Herbert Trokis, a Rynpark Two resident, commended the new contractor, but criticised the metro for awarding the tender to the initial company.

“They still have to clean up here, on the corner,” Trokis said.

“The second company knew what they were doing; you can see the difference and there is no question about it.”

Trokis said he hopes for work to continue on the rest of the road, leading further towards Putfontein, saying: “This road has an unreal amount of heavy duty vehicles using it.

“It is fantastic that they will take the road work further, I hope they get the right people to do it, and do it timeously.”

Another concern for Trokis was the potential for a “bottleneck” situation, where the traffic from four or three lanes are squeezed into two during the work.

Gadebe said the contractor that finished the last section of Pretoria Road, including the corner with Vlei Road, is not guaranteed to return for future phases of the Pretoria Road project.

“The current budget is R4-million,” Gadebe added.

“Provision has been made on the department’s five-year multi-year budget for future phases of this project.”

Trokis concluded by saying: “There are big problems within the metro, with unauthorised expenditure and people being awarded tenders without complying with regulations.”

Gadebe responded by saying: “EMM is bound by very strict supply chain requirements and conditions, and it is very unlikely that any contractor will be appointed without full compliance.”