The City of Cape Town is planning a R561 million upgrade project to rid the city of “apartheid roads” in poorer areas.
A draft budget will be placed before the council on Monday and a city-wide review of roads will be launched during the next financial year.
This will look at progress on road upgrades and where the biggest problem areas still remain. Possible sites for improvements include Khayelitsha, Grassy Park and Bonteheuwel.
The plan is to upgrade all sub-standard roads in previously disadvantaged areas over the next three years, at a cost of R561m.
The work will include surfacing gravel or partially built roads. Kerbs and pathways will also be built. Where needed, street lighting will be installed, steps will be built and street name signs will be erected.
The city said the difference in road conditions was glaring when moving from one part of the city to another.
Brett Herron, the mayoral committee member for transport, roads and stormwater, said the draft budget was proposing R127m be spent for the 2012/13 financial year. In the next year, R182m is set to be spent and R252m is budgeted in the 2014/15 financial year. And money from a national grant will also be sourced.
He said the council had called for tenders for a team of consultants last week. They will be responsible for the preliminary work. They will study records of road conditions, identify gaps in the records and draft specific project budgets.
“This is the first time the city is employing consultants to specifically focus on road infrastructure in disadvantaged communities, with a view to assisting us to plan a programme to overhaul the infrastructure.”
Herron pointed to areas including Manenberg, Heideveld and Gugulethu. Upgrading roads has started there. But the study will “determine future prioritisation”.
Streets in Bonteheuwel, Grassy Park and Khayelitsha have also been marked for attention. More roads will be identified later.
“In this way we will rid the city of ‘apartheid’ roads, sub-standard roads, unmade roads, roads made of concrete and roads without sidewalks.”
But Herron said these kinds of problems were spread across Cape Town.
“The city’s standards of road design will also be evaluated, the outcome of which will have a bearing on the identification of roads which do not meet that standard.
“The ultimate purpose of this project is to have the city’s roads of a uniform standard as far as practically possible.”
At the start of the city’s new financial year in July, the external teams will be put in place. From there, design details and the hiring of construction contractors will start.
Work on site is expected to start toward the end of the next financial year, around June 2013.
“It is the intention to start detail design and construction as soon as possible after the preliminary work has been completed and funding is made available.”
Herron said that as part of the Expanded Public Works Programme, residents living in the areas concerned would be hired to work on the project.
“Part of the strategy that must be developed by the consultant is the maximisation of labour opportunities.”
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