Siyabonga Sesant
Nelson Mandela Bay's political instability has delayed the implementation of service delivery, said Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula during a visit to the Eastern Cape on Thursday.
Mbalula was in the province to do an inspection of road infrastructure as well as to assess the progress made into the massive upgrade of the R336 between Kirkwood and Addo.
The R275-million project which spans 13.75 kilometres will include safety features such as speed limits, pedestrian sidewalks and traffic controls.
The Sundays River Bridge will also be widened to accommodate a new pedestrian walkway.
Speaking on the state of roads in Nelson Mandela Bay, Mbalula said the Bay faces a lot of challenges.
"Nelson Mandela Bay has got a lot of challenges, political leadership, coalitions and all of that... these have sort of delayed implementation of service delivery, but we also work with municipality. The problem in Nelson Mandela Bay is not revenue [to fix roads] it's mismanagement," said Mbalula.
Along the R336 several stop-and-go operations had been set-up on Thursday, where employees were already hard at work.
Mbalula said the R336 needed urgent repair, and in some places, would be totally reconstructed.
"The state of the road, it's lifespan, has collapsed.
"As part of community development, we have agreed to meet with a team with mayor to ensure we reseal and construct the road, but in some cases there is no resealing [because] it had completely collapsed."
The mega-projects is expected to take about five years to complete.
