Mayor Nasiphi Moya said the municipality has no excuse for delays in filling potholes because it produces its own asphalt.
Tshwane Executive Mayor Nasiphi Moya said rainy weather is the reason the municipality could not attend to its pothole crisis.
She announced a comprehensive road resurfacing initiative targeting the city’s notorious pothole problem.
Speaking during the city’s progress briefing at Tshwane House in Pretoria West on Thursday, Moya outlined efforts taking place in four regions – Soshanguve, Mabopane, Hammanskraal and Olievenhoutbosch.
“Every day our teams are on site dealing with the issue of potholes. And remember, as the city, we produce our own hot asphalt. So we don’t have an excuse not to attend to the potholes,” Moya said.
‘No excuses’ for Tshwane’s potholes
Despite this, the mayor said the city was unable to fix potholes because of the bad weather.
“We always say to residents, the reason we couldn’t catch up [to fixing potholes] was [because of] the rains. The rains have subsided, we can now go back to [repairing] the roads.”
Moya said the municipality has no excuse for delays given its capacity to produce hot asphalt in-house.
However, Moya claimed that despite the unfavourable weather, municipal teams have made progress in their infrastructure repair efforts since the beginning of the year.
She said maintenance crews have repaired 3 698 potholes across the metropolitan area. According to the mayor, 5 711 streetlights have been fixed and 231 high-mast lights were repaired.
Additionally, workers have addressed sanitation infrastructure by unblocking 4 144 sewer blockages.
ALSO READ: Millions needed to fix Tshwane sinkholes
Massive funding gap threatens long-term solutions
The Centurion region is a particular area of concern, facing unique geological challenges that compound typical road maintenance issues.
The Citizen previously reported that DA ward 65 councillor Gert Visser noted that Centurion experiences the highest concentration of sinkholes due to its location in a dolomitic area, with new formations occurring regularly.
Visser explained that exceptional weather conditions have exacerbated the problem this year.
The councillor criticised delays in repair work, stating that “these potholes could have been repaired in a shorter time period, but that did not happen as hot asphalt and bitumen were not in supply due to operational and procurement issues, which are unacceptable”.
Visser outlined the stark financial reality facing the city, revealing that major sinkholes in key locations remain unaddressed due to budget limitations.
“To rehabilitate all the sinkholes, in the City of Tshwane, being 60 to 70, will cost at least R720 million while the current budget is R14 million,” Visser explained.
ALSO READ: Tshwane mayor under fire for downplaying pothole crisis
