SASOLBURG. – A wave of pothole complaints, as was reported in Vaalweekblad’s editorial comment on May 13, has moved media officer Gino Alberts of Metsimaholo to speak out on behalf of his municipality. Mr Alberts says the repair of potholes is recognized as an urgent priority but it’s equally urgent that people realise they must not effect private repairs.
He stresses that a motorist is likely to drive over privately-repaired potholes believing they have been formally repaired using municipally-approved material.
“The result is that they could damage their vehicles even more seriously than they are damaging them now.”
Alberts says a formal municipal program of pothole-repairing phases is underway. Some repairs are permanent, others are temporary, depending on the severity of damage and the frequency with which any particular road is used.
A particularly critical example of potholes is the Jan Haak Road.
Jan Haak, assures Alberts, has been lined up in Phase Two of the repair program so it’s only that the contractor hasn’t arrived there yet. Work is, however, underway.
The program stems from strategic sessions in which repair work is the subject of prioritisations. A time frame is not yet available because the repair plan compiled through strategic sessions operates on the fluid availability of funds and their equally fluid allocation. Funding and allocation are also the subject of priorisation as priorities that encompass more than potholes continue to shift as do sources of funding for other crises like grass-cutting, outdoor lighting, etc.
“We as a local municipality are trying our level best to cope with what everyone knows is a provincial and national problem,” says Alberts.
News source: Mooivaal Media – Vaalweekblad