South Africa’s already strained infrastructure is under another hefty repair bill, with the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) needing 307 billion rand ($17.2 billion) to fix and upgrade its vast road network, Bloomberg reports.
Transport Minister Barbara Creecy spoke of the situation during a presentation to lawmakers in Cape Town on Tuesday. The agency, responsible for managing 4% of the country’s 750,000-kilometer road network, requires design and construction work on 1,437 projects.
The dire state of the roads stems from several factors, including contractors going bankrupt and extortion by organized crime, according to Creecy. This has led to significant delays in repair work, with the minister citing the example of China Communications Construction Co. being brought in to complete projects abandoned by contractors facing criminal pressure.
While the country boasts the 11th-longest road network globally, the portion managed by SANRAL carries a significant 70% of the nation’s long-distance freight.
This massive road repair bill adds to the already substantial financial demands on other state-owned companies. Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., the national power utility, faces a 390 billion-rand upgrade of the electricity grid to integrate more clean-energy sources. Meanwhile, Transnet SOC Ltd., the state-owned rail company, requires billions to improve signaling systems and repair inoperable trains due to a lack of spare parts.
The presentation outlined that provincial road projects have average design and construction budgets of 17 billion rand per year until 2027. However, the extent of incomplete, abandoned, and delayed projects paints a bleak picture.
Creecy recommended strengthening project monitoring and addressing the challenges head-on, suggesting “leadership reform within the police to reinforce governance structure.”
