South Africa needs R307 billion to repair and improve its sprawling national road system, which, over the years, has fallen into extreme disrepair in places, causing major headaches to trade and industry as roughly 80% of all domestic goods are transported via road freight.
The South African National Roads Agency SOC Ltd. (Sanral) required design and construction work on 1 437 projects, transport minister Barbara Creecy said in a presentation to lawmakers in Cape Town on Tuesday.
Creecy said that repair work by the company, which manages 4% of the nation’s 750 000-kilometre road network, had been dogged by delays caused by challenges ranging from contractors going out of business to extortion by organised crime, reports Bloomberg.
Firms brought in to complete the work when a contractor quit due to demands by criminals, have included China Communications Construction Company.
South Africa’s road network is the 11th-longest in the world, while Sanral’s small portion of that carries 70% of the nation’s long-distance freight. The costly outlook reflects similar projections for other state-owned companies.
Provincial road projects have design and construction budgets averaging about R17 billion annually until 2027, the presentation showed, along with a more extensive list of incomplete, abandoned and delayed projects.
Creecy recommended support for the transport department “through leadership reform within the police to reinforce governance structure” and strengthening project monitoring.
