Since 2003 there has been a massive 40% increase in the number of tonnes of freight being transported on South Africa’s roads. The country’s roads have to be constantly maintained and upgraded to handle such load increases.

Hans Ittmann, who spoke at last week’s launch of the 8th annual ‘State of Logistics Survey for South Africa’, said that infrastructure development is vital for the country’s economic growth.

“The logistics infrastructure of a country, which includes roads, railways, ports, pipelines and airports, forms the backbone for this growth,” he writes.

Between 2003 and 2008, road and rail freight being transported on our main corridors shot up by a staggering 39.5%. “In contrast, the growth on rural roads and rail was 85%. In tonnes per kilometre this growth was 18.5% and 72.7% respectively,” Ittmann writes.

Ittman questions whether sufficient attention is given to infrastructure such as rural roads, which are not part of a main corridor. This is a pertinent question considering the increase in freight being transported.

According to the 2012 National Budget Review, the infrastructure projects earmarked for completion with regard to transport are the following:

-A R80 billion passenger railways project (through the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa) to        acquire a new fleet of rolling stock over 20 years; procurement has commenced.

-National road improvements (through SANRAL) of R45.4 billion. This will include maintenance improvements, refurbishment and new roads and is an ongoing programme.

-Rolling stock and locomotives for freight rail (through Transnet) of R7.7 billion; procurement is underway.

-Provincial road improvements (through provincial roads departments) of R25.5 billion over the next three years for maintenance and refurbishment of roads, as well as the construction of new roads, which is a work in progress.

-The Ngqura Container Terminal has been allocated R7.9 billion to improve the port capacity by 800 000 units. The first phase will be completed this year.

The backlog in road maintenance in South Africa stands at a huge R149 billion, according to former SANRAL CEO Nazir Alli.

A budget of R25.5 billion has been set aside for the upgrade and maintenance of the rural road network, which is not even close to enough considering the current backlog.

The higher the freight loads are and the more they keep increasing, the more attention and money is required to ensure our roads remain viable routes to transport cargo.

Bad roads raise the cost of doing business for transporters, public transport and logistics companies as maintenance costs on vehicles becomes more excessive.

According to the Municipal Infrastructure Investment Framework for South Africa (Round 7), conducted by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and the Development Bank of Southern Africa, 75% of access roads in rural and urban areas are in poor condition.

Ittmann believes that it is never too late to spend on infrastructure. “I think the argument that there isn’t enough money is not a good one. I believe there is money to upgrade these roads,” he said, referring especially to rural roads. “People are waking up and realising that we need to maintain these roads. Of course there has to be a shift of some road freight to rail. If you look at the road between Durban and Johannesburg, we might not have a road in future if that shift does not take place,” he said.

What are your views on the state of our roads? Feel free to leave a comment or start a discussion.