While many roads are in poor conditions and riddled with potholes due to a lack of maintenance and other factors, the South African National Roads Agency says it's hard at work and making good on its promise to turn the Eastern Cape into a "construction site".
The roads agency said it would be investing more than R7-billion in projects across the Eastern Cape during the 2022/23 financial year.
"If you've seen the kind of achievements that we've done through SANRAL, the kinds of roads that we've been able to complete, the projects that we've completed already," new provincial transport and community MEC Xolile Nqatha said on Tuesday night when he addressed dignitaries at a SANRAL event.
The objective of the session was to share information with provincial and government leadership and to introduce and induct new political appointees on SANRAL's policies and programmes.
MEC Nqatha said some of SANRAL's achievements go unsung, like the recently completed R61 Interchange in Libode.
"We are lambasted around each and every corner as if we're not working," he continued.
"And some of the people who lambast us, are the very same people who are going through these construction sites, seeing SANRAL busy at work. But every time they make the loudest noise and we are unable to claim these achievements by our government.
The agency presented the MEC with projects that SANRAL is involved in the province for this financial year.
Nqatha concluded: "Let me take this opportunity once more to thank SANRAL, and commit our government and all the municipalities gathered here, that we'll work very closely to ensure that these projects - if we can succeeded in safeguarding them - are done.
"The province has been turned into a constructions site, the province will never be the same as before!"
