The DA-led municipality of Kouga has accelerated its war on potholes with the implementation of a new special mayoral intervention programme aimed at strengthening the municipality’s capacity to repair Kouga’s roads.
To address the previous government’s failure to maintain Kouga’s roads which resulted in a backlog of more than R500 million – more than half of Kouga’s total annual budget – the DA-led municipality has set aside an additional R3-million to tackle potholes. “While the intervention will not mean the end of all potholes, it will set a new standard for repairs and bring us closer to a more permanent fix,” Executive Mayor Horatio Hendricks said.
The programme will see the creation of 70 job opportunities and the hiring of specialised equipment to help improve the quality of repairs so that fixed potholes “don’t simply wash open every time it rains,” said Mayor Hendricks. The programme which will be rolled out across the whole region of Kouga over the next six months will focus on high-risk roads with heavy traffic flow – especially in the Gamtoos Valley area.
In the last financial year, the DA-led Kouga did a commendable job of repairing almost 8 000 potholes and will tackle even more through the expanded pothole programme. The DA leadership will continue to look for innovative ways to tackle the most pressing service delivery issues.