The City’s Executive Mayor Dan Plato, joined by the Mayoral Committee Member for Transport, Alderman Felicity Purchase, visited the City’s roads repair team today as they ramp up efforts to repair potholes created during the rainy season. Since June, 10 186 potholes have been fixed, indicating the early impact of the wet weather and the reduced maintenance capacity due to the national lockdown. This event marks the launch of a campaign to sharpen efforts to improve the quality and the state of roads across the city.
‘Cape Town experienced one of the rainiest seasons in recent years and it has become evident how quickly things can stack up. We are aware of service delivery backlogs caused by the restrictions of the national lockdown and are working flat-out to get back-on-track. The pothole repair campaign is now well underway, but I am personally visiting the road teams on duty to monitor the progress of the repair work. Our city is known for its quality service delivery and this campaign is one of the ways we are working to move closer to optimal levels of action and efficiency,’ said Executive Mayor Dan Plato.
Under Alert Level 5, road maintenance teams were not deemed essential services, so they could not undertake preventative road maintenance prior to the rainy season. This meant that staff now have to work hard to catch up while operating at reduced capacity to adhere to the COVID-19 health and safety regulations. From 1 October 2020, depot staff reached an operating capacity of 70%. With warmer weather conditions on its way, and the relaxation of lockdown restrictions, we can now intensify our efforts.
The formation of potholes during the colder months are a common occurrence as it is linked to the heavy rainfall, age and state of the roads. Water is the main cause of potholes, but it can also form due to diesel spillage, vehicle collisions, fires, and inadequate road drainage. In addition to repairing potholes, we are also soon embarking on a clean-up campaign to remind residents of the importance of working with us to keep areas neat and tidy.
The City’s Roads Department has repaired 12 962 potholes since January, with 10 186 of those completed since 1 June 2020. About R287 million is also spent each year on the resurfacing of roads.
‘The national lockdown coincided with the start of our winter readiness programme and the road repair teams were not able to do the routine road maintenance as it was not classified as essential work. This was further exacerbated by the heavy rains that Cape Town received during this time, resulting in a backlog and leaving our roads in an undesirable state. To mitigate the situation, we have deployed road repair teams from the City’s 20 depots across the city to repair potholes and do routine road maintenance to ensure that our roads are well maintained and durable. The teams are working hard to fix the potholes and making our roads safe to drive on,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Transport, Alderman Felicity Purchase.
Additional steps to address the backlog
- The Directorate is implementing recovery plans to eradicate a road maintenance backlog brought on by the COVID-19 national lockdown and winter rains
- Assessing service requests from residents over the past few months. From this, a programme for each district area has been developed and is being rolled out
- Increasing the capacity of staff at City Depots as the restriction levels allow. The City has employed the services of four external contractors to help with the backlog
The city-wide maintenance work is scheduled to take place until April 2021.
Residents can report potholes to the Transport Information Centre on 080 065 6463. This is a 24/7 information centre and is toll-free from a landline or a cell phone.
Alternatively, a mail can be sent to Transport.Info@capetown.gov.za.