Poor North West roads suffocating agri-trade
13 December 2018
The poor state of provincial roads in the North West hinders basic service delivery to far-flung communities, restricting access to education and emergency and health services. It prevents effective policing and is suffocating agri-trade, further dumping the economy into decline which result in increased job losses.
Yesterday, as part of my DA Premier Candidate Listening Tour, we travelled the Tosca/Vergelegen provincial road to engage with commercial potato farmers and far-flung rural communities. The stories we were told about the utter neglect of these communities by the failing ANC government are heart-wrenching.
Potato farmers are the largest employers in the area, however, they are struggling to access transportation services to take produce to market. Transporting companies are reluctant to travel these roads as it increases maintenance on tyres and the suspension of truck to the extent where it is just not feasible to take a contract. Those truck companies who are willing, charge unaffordable fees for most farmers. This prevents them from employing more people to grow their businesses.
Farmers in the area have done their best to grade the worst affected stretch of road, but have run out of funds.
Rural communities told us that during the rainy season, they are effectively cut off from the rest of the province and that accessing emergency services or policing during this time is a futile exercise. Mobile clinics also do not visit these communities as often as they should due to the poor quality of roads.
Decayed roads infrastructure has a severe negative socio-economic impact on the lives of people. It depresses the local economy, results in unreasonably high unemployment, and denies people access to ambulance services which result in avoidable deaths.
The situation is dire across the North West. Many other communities face the same problems as a result of the poor governance of the failing ANC. The Department of Public Works and Roads had to return R105 million to National Treasury due to underspending on roads infrastructure. This money could have gone a long way towards rehabilitating decayed roads such as the Tosca/Vergelegen road.
The DA will conduct a survey of all the roads in the province to identify the worst roads and will propose amendments to ring-fence funds for the rehabilitation of these roads during 2019/20 budget cycle in the Provincial Legislature.
However, if the people want to travel on roads that are well maintained, then only a change in government can help. The people of the North West have an opportunity to reject the ANC in next year’s election and vote in a DA government that will bring change that will prioritise the rehabilitation of roads and the delivery of services.
Issued by Joe McGluwa, DA North West Premier Candidate, 13 December 2018
