The Ivory Park Gravel Roads Improvement Project is in full swing, according to the City of Johannesburg.

The City together with the Johannesburg Roads Agency have made R47.7 million available for the upgrading of 8.3 kilometres of roads – from gravel to asphalt surface – in the current financial year.

This comes after the city completed an equivalent road length of 2.5 kilometres of gravel roads at a cost of R10.239 million in the township in the past financial year.

Over the next three years, the City has set aside a total amount of R229 million for the tarring of roads and streets in Ivory Park.

Johannesburg Member of the Mayoral Committee for Environment and Infrastructure Councillor Matshidiso Mfikoe says the upgrading of social infrastructure in Ivory Park will catapult the transformation of the community.

“The provision of such critical infrastructure connects communities to economic activity and other areas of opportunity. It also greatly improves their general living conditions,” says MMC Mfikoe.

The roads that were upgraded in Ivory Park in the 2013-2014 financial year scope of work are Shweshwe, Liberation Circle, Xolela, Mogoboya, MP Khumalo and Technology Crescent.

The gravel roads that will receive a major facelift in the current financial year include Boshoff Street, Dimbaza Street, Eighteenth July, Emalahleni, Hlanganani and Kabelo Street.

The upgrading will include surfacing, paving and kerbing, lighting and landscaping.

The Ivory Park Gravel Roads Upgrades Project forms part of the city-wide Gravel Roads Upgrades Programme, which will see the City spending more than R1.3 billion to improve roads during the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period.

The other areas that will benefit from the upgrades projects are Diepsloot, Braamfischerville, Orange Farm, Thulani (Doornkop), Lawley, Drieziek, Protea South and Tshepisong.