From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, this is the Real Economy Report.

Sashnee Moodley:

The National Department of Transport in July launched the Vala Zonke War Room which will monitor and manage all pothole repairs in the country at the South African National Roads Agency’s Central Operations Centre in Centurion. Cameron Mackay has the story.

Cameron Mackay:

The new facility, situated at the Sanral COC, will have a dedicated team from various clusters to coordinate government’s ongoing efforts in repairing potholes, and to monitor service delivery.

Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga was shown around the facility and spoke to various operators working at the War Room, who explained some of the capabilities and operations of the facility.

The NDOT launched the national campaign to fix potholes on August 8 last year, with a call for joint efforts by the nine provinces and all 278 municipalities, which comprises eight metropolitan, 44 district and 226 local municipalities. There have since been several activities across provinces to implement the project.

At event Chikunga stressed that the success of the War Room will depend on strong government relations and communication as they impact roads infrastructure provision and maintenance.

NDOT Minister Lydia Sindisiwe Chikunga..

Cameron Mackay:

Chikunga stressed that despite Scheduled 5 constitutional provisions for the separation of roles, the National sphere of government has a responsibility to ensure that roads are managed within a framework of national norms and standards. This is intended to maximise the role of roads in enabling economic activity and access to social amenities.

Stressing the severity of the challenges involved with the local road network, as a high amount of deaths and damage to vehicles has been attributed to increased accidents on roads, Chikunga stated that the NDOT has recently visited and inspected a number of national roads.

This was done in Mpumalanga and the North West Province.

The Department will continue to visit other provinces, such as the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, in the forseeable future.

NDOT Minister Lydia Sindisiwe Chikunga...

Cameron Mackay:

During a question-and-answer session, Chikunga stated that the country’s road networks are owned by different road authorities, across various spheres of government such as national, provincial, metros, districts and municipalities.

The NDOT wants South African roads to be trafficable as well as user-friendly.

NDOT Minister Lydia Sindisiwe Chikunga...

Cameron Mackay:

Chikunga emphasised the significance of South Africa’s 750 000 km road network, which also places South Africa at number 11 in the world in terms of total road length.

NDOT Minister Lydia Sindisiwe Chikunga...

Cameron Mackay:

The Minister pointed out that given South Africa’s extensive road network, the quality of roads ranges significantly across the country.

While South Africa also has a significant amount of gravel roads, she argued that these roads are also used in more developed countries that rank above South Africa in terms of road network quality.

NDOT Minister Lydia Sindisiwe Chikunga..

Cameron Mackay:

The Minister also stated that Sanral’s COC already has the existing infrastructure, technology and personnel to ensure effective monitoring and coordination of intervention programmes for all operations, maintenance and other road related activities. Through this War Room, information can be managed easily through visual information that will be conveyed more effectively, with visualization of relevant data. A specialist at the War Room will also be able to analyse the data and respond appropriately, she added.

Sashnee Moodley:

That’s Creamer Media’s Real Economy Report. Join us again next week for more news and insight into South Africa’s real economy. Don’t forget to listen to the audio version of our Engineering News daily email newsletter.