‘Fund new roads in Gauteng or face meltdown’

ANNA COX THE SOUTH African Road Federation (SARF) has warned that without central government funding for new roads, Gauteng faces mayhem and economic strangulation. The federation says areas particularly affected are the N1 Johannesburg/Pretoria highway, the Gillooly’s interchange, the M2, the N1, major lengths of the national ring road around Johannesburg and almost all the provincial and metropolitan support routes. “Neither Gauteng’s provincial government nor the City of Johannesburg appear to have the necessary funds. No correlation between national, provincial and municipal government on road provision, nor clarity as to who is responsible for which transport sectors or how they are to be funded, is apparent. Even if funds were available, no coordinated transport master plan to deploy them has been made public,” says executive director of SARF, Dr Malcolm Mitchell.