Known to be unlucky, Friday the 13th instead heralded good news for the community of Okhahlamba in what has been described as ‘a significant win for the economic future’.
After three years of continuously engaging government about the poor condition of the two main routes in the area, namely the R74 and R600, DA Councillor Thys Janse van Rensburg received confirmation that a full rehabilitation of these roads has been budgeted for.
This comes after a visit from the Portfolio Committee on Transport on April 22.
READ MORE HERE: Risky road is hampering growth
Cllr Janse van Rensburg says this is a ‘DA win for Okhahlamba’s roads’, but explains that it has been a long path to get to this point.
“For the last three years, the DA in Okhahlamba has been raising concerns about the shocking and ever-worsening condition of the general road network in the municipality. During 2021, it was becoming obvious that the region was facing an economic calamity. Tar and gravel roads were falling apart and becoming unusable. The only two active economic sectors in the regions are agriculture and hospitality. As a result of tourists not wanting to use the shocking roads, the hospitality sector was and still is experiencing closures and bankruptcies, along with the loss of thousands of jobs. The agriculture sector was and is faced with huge problems trying to get inputs such as fertilizer onto farms and to get farm outputs such as fresh milk to the market,” he explained.
The department confirmed that funds for the following roads had been included in the budget for the next 36 months: the full rehabilitation of Okhahlamba’s two arterial roads – the R74 and R600 – as well as a multitude of smaller tar and gravel road projects within the area.
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