September 11, 2003

ROADS in Soweto are to be upgraded over the next three years, with more than 300km of road surface set to be resurfaced and tarred.

The ambitious plan, unveiled at a City of Johannesburg media briefing yesterday, will cost in excess of R200-million, with the City planning to raise R170-million for the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) to implement the project. This is in addition to the R53-million already budgeted by the JRA for upgrading Soweto roads in the current financial year.

Executive mayor Amos Masondo said the massive programme is part of ongoing work by the City to eliminate backlogs in the road network infrastructure.

Construction work on Soweto roads is set to begin next month

"We will start by eradicating all gravel roads in identified areas in Soweto and ensure that all of these are upgraded and tarred within the next two financial years," the mayor vowed.

The most populous black urban residential area in the country, with Census 2001 putting the population at 896 995, Soweto has some 349km sand or gravel roads, according to JRA managing director, Mavela Dlamini.

The oldest parts of Soweto, the areas bordered by Diepkloof to Orlando West, Meadowlands, Dobsonville, Zola, Naledi, Chiawelo, Mapetla, Dlamini to Pimville and back to Diepkloof, will be prioritised.

Soweto will be divided into three blocks for the purposes of the project, Dlamini said. The first block, to be tarred in the current financial year, will be the townships of Orlando East, Pimville and Diepkloof. The second block, Meadowlands, Dobsonville, Chiawelo and Dlamini, will be tarred in the 2003/4 financial year, and the final block of Zola, Emdeni, Tladi, Moletsane and the remainder of Dobsonville, will be upgraded in the final year.

The roads improvement project will benefit local contractors and create jobs for local communities. "In all our projects, we make sure that at least 40 percent of earnings go to the local sectors," Dlamini said.

The JRA's expenditure on the upgrading and surfacing of roads in Soweto has increased dramatically from R18-million in the 2001/2 financial year to R91-million in the 2002/3 financial year, Masondo said.

Johannesburg City Manager, Pascal Moloi, said various avenues would be explored to raise the extra R170-million needed for the project. "We will look at the municipal infrastructure grant of the National Treasury, our improved revenue collection, and at bank loans as possible sources for funding the project," he said.

A total of R146-million has been allocated, for the current financial year, for upgrading sand and gravel roads throughout the City. Over the last two years, the mayor said, the City had invested a total of R141-million in the Sandton/Randburg area, primarily to open up the road corridors and to minimise traffic congestion.