An accident involving a bus killed 6 people in February 2019.
It is government’s top priority to upgrade the infamous Moloto Road linking Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
This is according to transport minister Blade Nzimande. He said this week that cabinet has already adopted the plan.
An amount of R3.3 billion has been allocated for the Moloto project. The South African National Road Agency (Sanral) is expected to add an extra sum to the R3.3 billion.
Sanral will put R9 billion towards the road projects, resulting in over R13 billion in road infrastructure investment projects.
Over 50 000 people travel on the high accident-zone each day.
Last week 6 people were killed when the bus they were travelling in collided with an SBV cash-in-transit van.
The project, which will see the Limpopo and Mpumalanga sections of the road being seriously upgraded, is expected to create 12 500 jobs over the next five years.
Other projects that will be given priority in upgrading is –
• EB Cloete interchange between the N2 and the N3 in eThekwini at R1.5 billion
• Adding additional lanes in the roads between Camperdown and Cato Ridge and between Camperdown and Lynnfield Parks at R1.2 billion.
In the Moloto Road project, the minister said three work packages would be rolled out in Limpopo and 5 in Mpumalanga. This will occur during this financial year.
Remarking of roads, putting speeding cameras and marking centre lines to prevent drivers from straying into opposite direction lanes have just been the interventions government made in the past in dealing with road deaths, Nzimande said.
Nzimande said his department is open to the possibility of the private sector also investing – and the New Developmental Bank is expected to give Sanral some few billions of rands.
“We are going to be engaging stakeholders… [it] is still our intention,” he said.
(edited by MLM, with ANA)
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