93 provincial road maintenance projects across the five Limpopo districts prioritised

Honourable MEC of LDPWRI, Mme Nkakareng Rakgoale (third from left) with municipal officials, local traditional authorities and community representatives during the handing over of a contractor for the rehabilitation of road D21 in the Maruleng Local Municipality, one of the 93 roads in the province prioritised for major rehabilitation.

93 PROVINCIAL ROAD

MAINTENANCE PROJECTS ACROSS FIVE

LIMPOPO DISTRICTS PRIORITISED

oads Agency Limpopo (RAL) has identified over 90 provincial roads requiring maintenance, to be prioritised in the 2022/23 financial year. In its quest to continue to improve the provincial road infrastructure, RAL will, in the financial year 2022/23 and 2023/24, be undertaking major preventative maintenance work across all the five districts of the province.

RAL is the entity operating under the political leadership of the MEC of the Limpopo Department of Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure (LDPWRI), on behalf of Limpopo

RProvincial Government, and is responsible for over 20 000km of Limpopo provincial roads. Out of the total figure of kilometres in the province, only about 7 000km are tarred and the rest are either gravel or dirt. Limpopo Province is one of the rural provinces, continuously affected by heavy rains and floods which negatively impact on the existing tarred roads. Most of the existing quality roads and bridges get destroyed as a result of heavy rain and floods. The drive to rehabilitate and maintain the 93 identified

roads follows the LDPWRI’s Operation Thiba Mekoti Ditseleng, an initiative championed by the National Department of Transport’s (NDoT) Operation #ValaZonke Campaign. The operation was mainly aimed at addressing roads that are heavily affected by potholes.

The Honourable MEC of LDPWRI, Mme Nkakareng Rakgoale has been hard at work having already commenced with the handing over of contractors for preventative maintenance in the Mopani and Vhembe Districts.

In Mopani District, the 30km, D21 road, from Ofcolaco to Gifani within the Maruleng Local Municipality, will be

rehabilitated in two phases, commencing with the first phase of 15km. In the Greater Letaba Municipality, 9.6km of road D3179 from Medingen to Malematsa will be rehabilitated for a stretch of 7km with the remaining 2.6km gravel part upgraded.

In the Vhembe District, road D4 from the N1 Turnoff to Ha-Maila connecting to Vleifontein and Elim, covering an approximate distance of 10km, has also been handed over to a contractor for rehabilitation.

The MEC has since implored all communities to remain patient as the work continues. “We encourage our communities to be patient with us. We acknowledge that there is a big outcry with regard to road infrastructure service delivery and we are planning to move with speed to address the existing backlog,” MEC Rakgoale pleaded.

Traditional councils have highlighted the importance of job creation which they anticipate as part of the planned projects. They look forward to having their communities empowered.

Speaking during the handover of road D21, Kgoshi Matshengoane Sekororo from Banareng Ba Sekororo Traditional Authority said: “This project is going to help our community by giving them a proper road, create job opportunities in the form of labour and small businesses will also benefit as they will be sub-contracted to render various services.”

Meanwhile, Mr Edgar Modjadji, from Modjadji Traditional Authority, expressed his excitement about the planned rehabilitation on road D3179. “We are excited about the planned rehabilitation because we feared accidents occurring on the road. We were fortunate to have never experienced any accidents. The road will be fixed, making it safe for our community.” The MEC will proceed to hand over more contractors for the preventative maintenance projects in the Capricorn, Sekhukhune and Waterberg Districts.

Mr Edgar Modjadji, from Modjadji Traditional Authority (left) and Kgoshi Matshengoane Sekororo from Banareng Ba Sekororo Traditional Authority (right) are looking forward to the fringe benefits such as employment that are associated with the rehabilitation of the roads in their respective communities.

“WE ENCOURAGE OUR COMMUNITIES TO BE PATIENT WITH US. WE ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THERE IS A BIG OUTCRY WITH REGARD TO

ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICE DELIVERY AND WE ARE PLANNING TO MOVE WITH SPEED TO ADDRESS THE EXISTING BACKLOG.”

#RALatWork

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