Are there 25 million potholes in SA? Confused Sanral says no

There may be nine million bicycles in Beijing, according to the popular song by Katie Melua, but just how many potholes are there on the roads of South Africa?

That’s the debate now after national roads agency Sanral dismissed suggestions the number could be as high as 25 million.

Millions of potholes

In an extraordinary statement yesterday, Sanral said it wished to “clarify claims circulating in the public domain about SA having 25 million potholes”.

The claim was made in October last year by a former SA Roads Federation (Sarf) president, Mutshutshu Nxumalo, who claimed there were more than 25 million potholes on SA’s roads.

Sarf is a non-government organisation dedicated, it says, to the “promotion of the road industry in SA by dissemination of information, the promotion of sound policies and by education and training”.

Sanral not convinced

Sanral said that it “has reservations about this figure. Given that SA has a paved network of 168 000km, 25 million would equate to 149 potholes for every kilometre, which is improbable”.

However, another statement by the organisation the day previously put the length of paved roads in this country at 158 000km… so it appears confused itself.

Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona added, however: “We do not dispute that South Africa has a pothole crisis and we remain committed to working with provinces and municipalities to address it.

“However, we must be realistic about the nature and extent of the problem.”

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He said the agency was “unable to provide reliable statistics as to the exact number of potholes which have been repaired to date” and wanted better administrative cooperation by the various provincial and local government authorities about their progress in dealing with potholes.

‘Pothole app’

Sanral was appointed by the national department of transport to run the national campaign to fix potholes, dubbed Operation Vala Zonke (fill all or cover all).

The agency produced an app through which members of the public can report potholes. It said 51 271 people had downloaded the free app and reported 26 699 potholes.

The ‘pothole app’ allows for the user to take a picture of the pothole, while the system automatically records the GPS location, sending the information to the relevant authority, depending on the location.

In the case of potholes on its national roads network, Sanral said 618 potholes had been fixed or were still to be fixed with the agency’s self-set 48-hour deadline.

Mona said: “Sanral has done an assessment of the limited progress made in fixing potholes across the country. It is important to understand the legal mandates of the various spheres of government, to understand who is responsible for which roads, and to be clear about how the campaign to fix potholes is coordinated.”

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SA’s road network

South Africa’s total road network is estimated at 750 000km, the longest of any African country and the 11th longest in the world.

The total length of paved roads is either 158 000km or 168 000km, depending on which Sanral statement you believe.

Responsibility for building and maintaining the network is divided between Sanral and provincial and local government authorities.

Sanral manages national roads and has a network of 23 512km of paved roads.

Challenges ‘not insurmountable’

Provinces are responsible for just over 270 000km (46 500km paved), while the municipal network is estimated at just over 320 000km (nearly 88 000km paved) of the proclaimed network.

The rest are unproclaimed gravel roads (mainly serving rural communities) and are not owned or maintained by any road authority.

Mona said the challenges were not insurmountable.

“Government remains committed to addressing the problem. The solution is here, but it can only be fully effective when we all play our part.”