LIMPOPO – Motorists can breathe a sigh of relief after the Department of Public Works announced that R11,5 million will be used to repair the D959 and D3715 roads in Sinthumule and Kutama.
These roads are in a poor condition, are riddled with potholes and pose a grave danger to road users.
The MEC, Dickson Masemola, said road inspections have been conducted to evaluate the condition.
The potholes on the D959 road from Louis Trichardt past Madombidzha to the Makhado Air Force Base and the D3715 road from Madabani to Tshikhodo had caused damage to motorists over the years, who suffered punctures and breakdowns.
Residents have also grown concerned about the increase in fatal accidents on these roads which have already claimed many lives. “This is part of the continuing work to visit, inspect and experience first-hand what road users go through daily. It is part of the preparation for resolving road infrastructure challenges in the province,” Masemola said.
He said planning will begin in order to have the patching and rehabilitation work done within the current financial year, and that the rehabilitation process would start as soon as Tuesday, 8 December.
“We urge residents and stakeholders to cooperate during the rehabilitation process. We are going to ensure that major rehabilitation of the roads in Vhembe, and engineering processes are under way on site. Our mandate is infrastructure provision and maintenance.”
After half a decade of requests to have the roads repaired the Zoutpansberg Community Development Forum, who represents the community, is hopeful that they will see service delivery come to light in this respect.
The Chairperson of the forum, Patrick Sikhutshi expressed their excitement about the action being taken and urged Masemola to speedily develop a project implementation plan to address road infrastructure challenges in the area.
“We want proper roads. If you are going to repair the two roads, you need to first repair the bridge, as they go hand in hand.”
Sikhutshi added, however, that the MEC’s visit and promises will not stop the total shutdown of Louis Trichardt as they promised. In his opinion, politicians often make promises they won’t keep. He said they would meet all structures, including traditional leaders, taxi associations and business forums to fight the Makhado and Vhembe District Municipalities in the unresolved water and electricity issues.
