Hauliers using roads in eThekwini Municipality should be encouraged to contribute to the maintenance and upkeep of the road infrastructure, industry has been told.
According to the acting head of the city's engineering department, Thanda Zulu, who recently spoke about the state of the municipality's roads and the efforts required to repair flood-damaged roads, this is essential due to the additional impact of trucks on the country’s roads.
Zulu was speaking about the municipality's new engagement platform, eThekwini Matters.
In response to a statement made by the eThekwini Matters host, Zulu explained that the roads were not originally built to withstand heavy-duty vehicles; thus trucks negatively affect the conditions of the road.
As a result, Zulu encouraged the idea that hauliers should invest in road maintenance.
"We have not gone very far with that discussion, but at some point, we need to have that conversation," Zulu said.
When the host asked him about the state of repairs since last April's flooding, Zulu gave an update on all the measures being taken to repair the roads.
He told the host: "To be honest with you, we are still at 20%.
"After the floods, we submitted a business plan to the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) for work that (will cost) approximately R2 billion.
"We had a meeting with the NDMC (in March) where they confirmed the city would be receiving about R1.5 billion, (of which) R300 million will be going to water, and R1.2bn will be going to roads and storm water repairs," Zulu said.
Additionally, the municipality received R185 million, of which current repairs have used up to R70 million. Thanks to internal capacity, much of the road repairs have been done, Zulu said.
"Any other smaller municipality could not have responded to this crisis the way we have.
"Most of these engineers went to school through (the assistance of) the city, that is why we have a number of them.
"We demonstrated to the whole of South Africa that we have the capacity."
