Government needs to move beyond reactive road repairs towards data-driven asset management, backed by reliable funding and integrated information systems, said speakers at a South African Institution of Civil Engineering transport webinar on October 23.
Mathabo Kgabo Sheron Masegela, Senior Manager: Planning at the Roads Agency Limpopo, said the province’s 2025/26 floods exposed weaknesses in road monitoring and reporting.
Condition assessments provide only snapshots of the network while damage inspections remain manual and could expose workers to unsafe conditions, she said. Information shared through WhatsApp and social media is not integrated into the asset register and inspection cycles of one to five years delay the identification of changing road conditions.
“The problem is information latency and integration,” Masegela said.
She said digital twins, artificial intelligence, drones and satellite imagery could help identify deteriorating roads sooner and support faster decisions. However, adopting these technologies requires appropriate technical manuals, funding, procurement processes and investment in local skills.
Naashif Mowzer, SANRAL’s Operations Manager for the Free State, highlighted the financial consequences of delayed maintenance.
Mowzer said SANRAL’s Free State road network increased by about 93% following the transfer of additional roads. Annual maintenance costs on newly gazetted routes reach around R1.2 million per kilometre compared with R93 000 per kilometre on routes already under SANRAL’s management.
“Make safe” interventions reduce annual maintenance costs on the newly gazetted routes to about R250 000 per kilometre although this remains significantly higher than expenditure on the existing network, he said.
Neglected infrastructure has become increasingly expensive to maintain, Mowzer said, highlighting the need for timely interventions and realistic stakeholder expectations.
“We also need municipal based delivery and the participation of small, medium and micro enterprises as opportunities to build local capacity and strengthen community ownership,” he added.
