Recently, the state of our road network has deteriorated and let me be the first to apologise for this.

Whilst not trying to make excuses, this has been largely due to the excessively high rainfall, where more than 75% of the historic annual average rainfall has occurred in the space of 3 months, together with the industry year-end shutdown. A good indication of this is that in 2006/2007 financial year the Municipality's Roads & Stormwater call centre recorded 4593 complaints related to potholes, excavated areas and trenches in the roadway. In the 6 months to the end of December 2007 the call centre has already received 4018 complaints of a similar nature, which clearly shows the unusual nature and impact of the heavy rainfall, in particular. In addition there is an intensive programme of much-needed service provision by various service providers which unfortunately entails the laying of services within and across existing roads.

In respect of this latter issue, planned excavation work is currently being undertaken by the following service providers:

Neotel (new fixed line telecommunications provider).  Currently 70% complete with phase 1 which consists of 20 different projects totalling 160km of trenching.  Phase 2 will consist of a further 6 projects totalling 100km in length and both phases are expected to be complete in 6 months time.

Electricity Unit.  3 projects currently in progress in the Musgrave/Springfield area with a further project in the area due to start soon.  One further project due to commence in the Hillcrest CBD soon.

Water and Sanitation Unit.  2% to 3% into the widely publicised AC pipe replacement programme which is expected to be complete by June 2010.  No problems are being experienced with this programme at present.

In addition to the above Telkom, Corporate IT and Electronic Services are all engaged in limited extensions to their various networks.

It is estimated that all of the above work may entail the digging up of 3000kms of roads over the next few years.

Regular liaison is undertaken with all of the above service providers to achieve integration of both the scope and timeframes of the work, quality levels, safety standards and pedestrian and vehicular access; with varying degrees of success.  Greater efforts will be exerted in this area with a view to minimising handovers without compromising quality.

The public is reminded that the municipality does have a call centre where all the road related faults should be reported.  The toll free number is 080 131 3013.  An analysis of the call centre records shows that at the present time there are 1789 jobs, including potholes, that are not closed off on the system.  Not all of these are complaints that have not been attended to on the ground as some are following the administrative closure process.

Now that the shutdown is over, measures have been put in place to procure 25 contractors during the course of next week and it is anticipated that the backlog will be addressed in the next 6 weeks. In-house staff will focus on the new issues that are logged to ensure that these are addressed expeditiously.

The above comments apply only to the municipal road network of 7682km, and not to the 1411km of provincial roads or the 367km of National Roads that fall within the municipality. With varying degrees of success, the municipality endeavours to engage with these other Road Authorities to ensure that they address issues relating to their roads. These endeavours will be intensified over the next few weeks.

The municipality sincerely apologises for the above situation which has, by and large, resulted from a period of heavy rainfall coinciding with an industry shutdown.