MyPE

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Another pothole promise hole

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Dear MyPE

Nelson Mandela Bay’s road network is riddled with potholes and other road infrastructure maintenance problems. Across the Metro residents regularly have to dodge crumbling craters. To fix this decay requires dedicated teams, with the requisite experience, working around the clock using quality materials.

Instead – the ANC Coalition of Corruption makes fanciful promises that they have no intention of keeping. The latest promise made by the MMC for Roads and Transport, Cllr Rosie Daaminds, on 29 September 2020 at the launch of a R11,5 million “war on potholes” – was that “by December there will not be a single pothole in Nelson Mandela Bay.”

While there have been some road repairs taking place, this promise has clearly not been kept, and a substantial number of potholes have not been attended to.

It is now December, and very soon the building industry will go into its annual shutdown – only the potholes will remain. What has also become clear is that the quality of the repairs done to date is not up to standard – with the “fixed” potholes soon reappearing.

The DA will write to the acting City Manager, requesting a complete breakdown of the costs involved in this program to date, including the areas that were supposedly targeted, to determine if the Metro received value for money.

When the DA and its coalition partners were in government, from 2016 to 2018, we embarked on a massive program of roads maintenance, with road resurfacing and road enhancement projects taking place across the Metro.

We were also able to get the Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS) bus system operational, after years of mismanagement and looting.

Our Metro cannot afford empty promises and photo-opportunity projects being launched. We need a competent government that makes promises it can keep, that prioritizes its citizens, provides basic services and maintains infrastructure such as roads.

The DA, with the assistance of its coalition partners and the residents of this Metro, can take Nelson Mandela Bay forward and fix this mess – we have done it before and can do it again!

Regards

Cllr Rano Kayser
DA NMB Spokesperson for Roads and Transport

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