UCT RESEARCHERS SAY ROAD MAINTENANCE BACKLOG EXCEEDS R400BN

The cost of South Africa’s
road maintenance backlog is nearing R417-billion, research undertaken by the
University of Cape Town’s School of Economics academics Don Ross and Matthew Townshend has found.

This is more than double the
amount set out in the South African National Roads Agency’s Committee of
Transport Officials’ (Coto’s) Condition and Budget Needs report, which is still
being used as a reference today, which estimates the backlog at about
R197-billion.

Townshend presented the
researchers’ findings at the South African Transport Conference, on Monday.

He said Coto’s report
included the rehabilitation of existing national, provincial and municipal
roads; however, the UCT research determined that the backlog for municipal road
maintenance alone was more than the Coto estimate for the total backlog.

Townshend and Ross found the
provincial road maintenance backlog to be R150-billion, while the municipal
road maintenance backlog was estimated at R242-billion.

Townshend explained that not
only was Coto’s data out of date, but also only assessed about 2% of the
country’s road network, and did not take into consideration gravel roads in
rural areas.

He added that municipalities and
provincial governments often had disparities in their road assessment reports,
which contributed to inaccurate data; estimates of the cost to upgrade gravel
roads to tarred roads ranged from as low as R347 000/km to as high as
R11.4-million a kilometre.

The academics advised in
their research that deteriorated roads could be classified across 48
categories, including according to traffic volume, surface material, dry and
wet climate, and flat and steep terrain, which were major cost-driving factors.

Ross and Townshend also
suggested applying an average rand per kilometre rehabilitation cost to each
category, to ensure consistency in provincial and municipal spending.

Townshend explained that
backlogs could also be classified as functional backlogs, which allowed for 10%
of roads to be in poor condition across the country, or as technical needs
backlogs, which allowed for 0% of roads to be in poor condition.

He said the latter was the
better choice.

He also mentioned that the gravel-to-surface
backlog would be the most costly one to tackle.

The gravel-to-surface backlog
was estimated at R115-billion, with the majority of those roads under
management of provincial governments.

However, to surface all
proclaimed gravel roads across the country, including rural areas, it would
cost R1.7-trillion, while the unproclaimed road network had a potential
R400-billion liability.

Townshend recommended that government assess which roads should be kept gravel to try and contain costs to reasonable quantums that could be achieved.

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