Rail focus continues as road upgrades are planned

R30-bn to be invested in roads over five years Leonard Neill CABINET APPROVAL of an amount of R30 billion for the upgrading of South AfricaÕs roads over the next five years will not detract from government policy to shift freight transport from road to rail, says Mike Mabasa, spokesman for Transport Minister Dullah Omar. The plan, he said, was to redress past under-investment in road maintenance. Investment of this nature will prolong the life of the national road network. The cabinet approval is subject to full ratification by government, but Omar is confident this will happen when the transport departmentÕs annual budget is submitted shortly. He said it would be the first stage of a 10-year plan to address backlogs, the cost of which has been estimated at R64bn. "One of the major problems in South Africa is that roads have not been properly maintained. We want to address the general deterioration," said Omar. But he emphasised that the expenditure of the total amount to be granted would be staggered, taking off slowly and then building up. "We have requested an amount at the outset which the department has the capacity to spend. We will have no rollovers. "The maintenance target is to reduce roads in poor condition to 5-10% of the network."