To address the growing concerns surrounding road maintenance, the Department of Transport (DoT) is contemplating a strategy involving enlisting the support of road freight operators.
Under the proposed strategy, hauliers would have the option to "adopt a road", similar to adopting a highway or a park.
The operators willing to participate would enter into agreements with the government, assuming responsibility for regular maintenance, upkeep, and repairs of selected road segments in exchange for certain benefits and incentives.
This collaborative approach will aim to alleviate the burden on the government and ensure smoother and safer roadways across the country.
Addressing the annual Road Freight Association (RFA) conference held at Fancourt in George over the weekend, Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga said the deteriorating state of roads had long been a challenge for transportation authorities.
She said it increases costs, traffic congestion and road safety risks.
"We have committed over R40 billion to constructing, upgrading and maintaining our national and provincial road networks.
“During this financial year, significant investment will go towards refurbishment, rehabilitation and eradication of potholes on provincial and municipal roads. Road infrastructure damaged by floods is also being prioritised."
She said the government's commitment was unwavering and it was decided to address road maintenance, but it could no longer do it alone.
"We will be approaching you as the private sector to adopt some roads because your trucks are not helping us. It does not matter how much Mpumulanga repairs the road between Carolina and Breyton. They repair it today, and next week it is damaged again."
Chikunga said road freight operators had a vested interest in maintaining high-quality infrastructure for their operations.
"Some of you might have some questions or certain conditions when it comes to adopting roads, such as who is liable in the event of an accident. That is an easy one to answer. It will remain a public road, so the government will still be responsible for such an event."
Chikunga said the roads in the country were never designed to handle the truck traffic they were currently experiencing.
"We are therefore going to come to you to see if there are any roads that you can adopt and ensure that they are properly maintained as we cannot keep pace."
She acknowledged that South Africa's road maintenance had been challenging for some time, saying there were "many reasons" for that.
While the finer details of an adopt-a-road strategy were yet to be finalised, and Chikunga did not elaborate, her remarks indicated private-sector involvement could be expected to address the country's massive maintenance backlog.
