Buffalo City Metro (BCM) has ringfenced more than R80-million to resurface badly damaged roads. R39-million more from BCM’s operations and maintenance budget will help fix potholes across the metro.
And to help ease congestion and damage to city roads, the metro has also taken steps to identify bypass routes for trucks passing through the city.
BCM spokesman Keith Ngesi confirmed a number of existing roads and stormwater pipelines throughout the city had been identified as priority projects.
The roads occur in the inland region which covers King William’s Town and surrounding areas, the Midlands region (Mdantsane, Berlin and surrounding areas) as well as the coastal region (East London and surrounding areas).
They have been identified through consultation with ward councillors, in conjunction with BCM’s pavement management system as well as physical inspection by BCM staff, Ngesi said.
BCM mayor Alfred Mtsi identified potholes as one of his key priorities along with uncollected garbage and litter across metro townships and suburbs.
Ngesi said the metro faced a road maintenance challenge as “a number of roads” within BCM had outlasted their design life.
“Budgeting also plays a major role when it comes to operations and maintenance as well as the prevailing extreme weather conditions,” Ngesi said.
He said BCM was looking at creating several bypasses around the city centre to help ease the number of trucks which used the metro’s roads.
He said the heavily laden trucks contributed to the collapsing roads infrastructure.
Democratic Alliance BCM councillor Isabel Thompson said her party welcomed the commitment from the city’s engineering services department to dealing with the potholes, but the department would have to craft a more detailed report to help councillors monitor the project.
Thompson said the metro’s pothole maintenance programme, tabled before council from time to time, was generalised, making oversight difficult.
“Another real problem is the very poor quality of workmanship in filling potholes by both BCM and externally appointed service providers,” said Thompson.
Ngesi said one challenge was that the required hot premix material used to fix potholes was scarce.
“At certain intervals hot premix, which is a longer lasting road surfacing product for fixing potholes, sometimes does not become available due to prevailing international challenges such as non-availability of bitumen and shutdown of bitumen oil refineries, which undergo repairs and maintenance at certain intervals.
“The (engineering) department is then forced to utilise cold premix, which is a short and temporary solution till hot premix becomes available,” he added.
The metro also announced it would upgrade existing and ageing stormwater systems to accommodate adverse weather conditions.
Ngesi said illegal street car washes, cropping up all over the city, were also affecting the metro’s roads and stormwater infrastructure.
“These roads are not designed to cater for chemical waste,” said Ngesi.
R80m patch for damaged BCM roads
And to help ease congestion and damage to city roads, the metro has also taken steps to identify bypass routes for trucks passing through the city.
BCM spokesman Keith Ngesi confirmed a number of existing roads and stormwater pipelines throughout the city had been identified as priority projects.
The roads occur in the inland region which covers King William’s Town and surrounding areas, the Midlands region (Mdantsane, Berlin and surrounding areas) as well as the coastal region (East London and surrounding areas).
They have been identified through consultation with ward councillors, in conjunction with BCM’s pavement management system as well as physical inspection by BCM staff, Ngesi said.
BCM mayor Alfred Mtsi identified potholes as one of his key priorities along with uncollected garbage and litter across metro townships and suburbs.
Ngesi said the metro faced a road maintenance challenge as “a number of roads” within BCM had outlasted their design life.
“Budgeting also plays a major role when it comes to operations and maintenance as well as the prevailing extreme weather conditions,” Ngesi said.
He said BCM was looking at creating several bypasses around the city centre to help ease the number of trucks which used the metro’s roads.
He said the heavily laden trucks contributed to the collapsing roads infrastructure.
Democratic Alliance BCM councillor Isabel Thompson said her party welcomed the commitment from the city’s engineering services department to dealing with the potholes, but the department would have to craft a more detailed report to help councillors monitor the project.
Thompson said the metro’s pothole maintenance programme, tabled before council from time to time, was generalised, making oversight difficult.
“Another real problem is the very poor quality of workmanship in filling potholes by both BCM and externally appointed service providers,” said Thompson.
Ngesi said one challenge was that the required hot premix material used to fix potholes was scarce.
“At certain intervals hot premix, which is a longer lasting road surfacing product for fixing potholes, sometimes does not become available due to prevailing international challenges such as non-availability of bitumen and shutdown of bitumen oil refineries, which undergo repairs and maintenance at certain intervals.
“The (engineering) department is then forced to utilise cold premix, which is a short and temporary solution till hot premix becomes available,” he added.
The metro also announced it would upgrade existing and ageing stormwater systems to accommodate adverse weather conditions.
Ngesi said illegal street car washes, cropping up all over the city, were also affecting the metro’s roads and stormwater infrastructure.
“These roads are not designed to cater for chemical waste,” said Ngesi.
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