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Gauteng Transport MEC fails to deliver on street light promises

Despite numerous requests by the DA and the Bonaero community to the Department of Roads and Transport, street lights at the Atlas road/R21 off-ramp have still not been repaired.

The delayed repairs of street lights along Atlas Road and other roads including Bonaero Drive, Elgin Street and Great North Road, has resulted in these roads becoming hot-spots for hijackers.

Furthermore the Gauteng Legislature’s Roads and Transport Committee recently submitted an urgent request to the department to finalise the road maintenance agreement, which calls for all provincial roads, including those surrounding Atlas Road, to be repaired.

Every day motorists live in fear of hijackings as they drive along these roads, and government needs to act if it wants to live up to its promises of creating a safe and prosperous global city region.

To this end, the DA has submitted further written questions to roads MEC Ismail Vadi, to follow up on the finalization of the maintenance agreement, as well as requesting a breakdown of the roads maintenance budget allocation.

The DA will also present the MEC with a petition signed by residents of Bonaero Park community calling for the MEC’s urgent intervention.

 

Media enquiries:

Graham Gersbach MPL

DA Constituency Head – Bronberg

060 556 4346

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Clayville Ext 45 residents none the wiser about improved infrastructure

Gersbach-Graham1Gauteng MEC for Housing and Traditional Affairs, Jacob Mamabolo, has pronounced noble intentions to improve the living conditions of residents of Clayville Ext 45, Ekurhuleni, but has failed to provide detailed plans as to how this is to be done.

 

In a written reply, the MEC stated that 3 384 stands in Clayville Ext 45 were to be developed providing for 200 single residential RDP units, 1 704 High Density Walk-up units, 380 rental units and 1 100 GAP / FLISP units (for persons not qualifying for RDP or bonded units).

 

Beneficiaries of these plans include residents of the nearby Madelakufa 1 & 2 Informal Settlements, Freedom Square and applicants on the Tembisa housing waiting list.

 

Whilst the reply stated that schools, parks, medical facilities, roads and transport facilities were being planned – no detail of these facilities was provided.

 

The nearby Mpumelelo Primary School, designed for 1 800 learners, has an enrolment in excess of 2 300 yet is still housed in temporary facilities.

 

Gauteng Premier, David Makhura, mentioned in his State of the Province Address that Clayville Ext 45 is one of the areas included in the delivery of more than 100,000 housing units in the next 5 years.

 

However, there are still no details as to what is planned.

 

My colleague, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Education, Khume Ramulifho MPL, and I will address a public meeting on Wednesday, 4 March, 2015 at the Olifantsfontein Community Centre at 19h00 to provide feedback to the community on the DA’s education campaign.

 

Educational needs are critical to sustainable human settlements.

 

The DA will continue to ensure that the needs of the residents are addressed effectively and are not lost in the mists of cheap talk.

 

Media enquiries:
Graham Gersbach MPL
DA Spokesperson on Roads
060 556 4346

 

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Bungled legal processes keep Gauteng’s roads in the dark

A service level agreement, to be signed in December 2014, ensuring the lights on Gauteng’s freeways would be adequately maintained has still not been ratified by the South African Roads Agency (SANRAL) and the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport (GDRAT).Gersbach-Graham1

 

This was revealed in a Roads and Transport committee meeting held at the Provincial Legislature.

 

This agreement would ensure that SANRAL would repair and maintain lights on Provincial Roads including the R24 (Albertina Sisulu freeway) from Johannesburg to O.R Tambo International Airport and the Atlas Road off-ramp from the R21.

 

The lights on the R24 have not been working for close on a year now, and according to residents the lights on the Provincial section of the Atlas Road off-ramp been a problem for over 6 years.

 

Reasons given for the delay include:

 

  • The agreements have been referred back to both the Legal Departments of the Gauteng Provincial Government and SANRAL for further negotiation;
  • The “as built drawings” for the design of the Atlas Road off-ramp when the R21 was handed over by GDRAT to SANRAL were outdated and did not reflect the current configuration of this off ramp;
  • Sections of road inclusive of the P40 and the section to where the lighting type changes should have initially been handed over to SANRAL.

 

In the meantime, whilst GDRT and SANRAL sort out their past mistakes, and the legal departments are sitting on the draft agreement, no maintenance and repairs are being done to any lighting on provincial roads across Gauteng.

 

Residents therefore are at risk of motor vehicle accidents due to poor lighting – while crimes at off ramps like Atlas Road continue to escalate.
Media enquiries:
Graham Gersbach MPL
DA Spokesperson on Roads
060 556 4346