Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has encouraged the public to report potholes on municipal and provincial roads on a newly launched app in order to enable government to repair them speedily.
Addressing the launch of Operation Vala Zonke, the minister said the app could be downloaded on Google Playstore and the Apple App store.
“The app will work in conjunction with the South African National Roads Agency SOC Ltd (Sanral) pothole management app and will allow the public to raise any issues, upload pictures of potholes, and provide real-time location of the road on an interactive map that will show the owners the different roads. The app will also provide status updates on issues raised using a pothole ticketing system.
“The information then gets assigned to the relevant authority, depending on where the road is, and the maintenance depot responsible for that road attends to fixing the pothole,” Mbalula said on Monday in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng.
As the implementing agency for this campaign, Sanral will closely monitor and assess the impact of the interventions over the next six months, which is the duration of the campaign.
A monitoring and evaluation capability has been put in place. This will enable the roads agency to generate audit reports, which will form the basis for validation of the work undertaken and the turnaround time in attending to potholes.
“Sanral has a policy of fixing any reported potholes within 48 hours,” said Mbalula.
–SAnews.gov.za
