Nelspruit- Mpumalanga's Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport has budgeted R1.243-billion for the construction and maintenance of roads in the province over the next 10 months.
It represents a 15.84% increase on last year's budget of R1.073-billion.
"Investing in roads infrastructure remains one of the major priorities of the department. The role of roads infrastructure towards economic development and achieving the Millennium Development Goals cannot be overemphasised. Although the allocated amount may not satisfy and attend to all our needs, it will go a long way in improving our road network," said MEC Clifford Mkasi during his department's 2010/2011 budget speech on Thursday.
With more than 70% of South Africa's energy needs supplied by power stations in Mpumalanga, Mkasi acknowledged the damage done to roads by coal hauliers.
"Coal is ferried from the mines to the power plants in trucks that result in the deterioration and damage of our roads where these operations take place. Maintenance of our coal haulage routes has always posed a challenge due to the provincial budgetary restraints. We've budgeted R173-million for the rehabilitation of the P29/1 road between Emalahleni and Ogies and the P50/1 between Ermelo and Morgenzon. These are multiyear projects that started in the 2009/2010 financial year that have to be completed this year," he said.
Mkasi added that the department was waiting for funding from national treasury to assist in the rehabilitation of coal haulage routes.
He recognised that maintenance formed a critical part of road network management and said the overall maintenance budget had increased by 34% from R269-million the previous year to R408-million.
"This year's increase represents the financial ramifications of a paradigm shift that fundamentally seeks to find a balance between the rollout of new infrastructure and preserving existing infrastructure. The additional budget will also go a long way in addressing the current maintenance backlogs.
"We had set aside R163-million for routine road maintenance and R173-million for preventative road maintenance. The other items making up the maintenance budget include R23-million for re-gravelling and R7-million for minor bridge repairs," he said.
Mkasi further announced that the department had created jobs for 2 026 female-headed households through its Siyatentela programme, which employs poor women to do labour-intensive road maintenance work in their communities.
"The department will continue with this poverty alleviation initiative and appoint an additional 2 000 women for the programme. Accordingly, the budget for it will be increased from R20-million to R40-million."
