Pic: Supplied
A pothole-free metro is the gift Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality wants to give its residents this Christmas.
Executive mayor Gary van Niekerk launched the ambitious project in Kabega Park in Gqeberha's western suburbs on Wednesday morning, joined by the MMC for roads and transport, Bradley Murray.
"It's a big target that we're setting for ourselves," Van Niekerk admitted.
In September, the number of reported potholes stood at around 15,000.
"We want to repair all potholes and the closing date, or when the project concludes, is the 24th of December," Van Niekerk said, "that's the date that we've given for ourselves to fix all potholes within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality."
Murray said R30-million had been set aside to tackle the problem.
"The budget is the normal ward-based budget [of] R500,000 and if you put them all together you will get R30-million for all 60 wards," he said.
"It will be split between our team and contractors so we can get the bulk of the work done," Murray said, adding that funds for road markings is also included in the budget.
Mayor Van Niekerk said: "It will be all over the metro; the western suburbs where we are today, we'll be in the northern areas, we'll be in the townships and we'll be in Kariega as well.
"Yes, I know I'm going to get criticised for setting such a lofty target for myself in terms of fixing all the potholes by the 24th of December but that's the [Christmas] gift we want to give to the people of this metro.
"We want to provide a cleaner and safer city by the 24th of December and that is what this project aims to do.
"So how are we going to do this?
"The 'how' part is very important; what we'll be doing is, we've got a new email address that we've created and it's potholes@mandelametro.gov.za and in the subject [line] we want people to put in the street name and the area.
"I'm very passionate about this project and we will be providing feedback to the communities," the mayor said.
In addition, residents can also call the pothole hotline on 041 506 2223.
