Province of the

EASTERN CAPEROADS & PUBLIC WORKS

DEPARTMENT OF ROADS AND PUBLIC WORKSPROVINCE OF THE EASTERN CAPE

MONITORING SYSTEMS ON POTHOLE REPARATION PROGRAMMES BETWEEN

NATIONAL, PROVINCIAL & LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Select Committee on Public Services

02 November 2011

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CONTENT

• Background• E. Cape Road Asset Management System• Liaison between National, Provincial and Local

Government on roads issues• Pothole repair programme• Policy on reparation for damages• Monitoring systems for pothole reparation• Conclusions

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Eastern Cape Roads Provincial Network RIFSA classification 2011

43,000 km network with 5.5 billion annual vehicle km’s

PCMS_GENERAL_n376791_Pothole Reparation_Dept of Roads & Public Works_EC

Background• Eastern Cape provincial road network consists of

approx. 43, 000 km of roads.– Only 12% or approx. 5, 200 km are surfaced and this

network carries 62% of traffic volumes.– Over 11, 000 km of gravel network also carries high traffic

volumes and should ideally be surfaced.– The network is currently severely stressed and in an

unstable (deteriorating) condition

• The local municipal networks constitute a further approx. 14,000 km of predominately gravel access roads and urban streets

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Background• EC DRPW receives approx. R 2 billion for Roads and EPWP

programmes (½ Equitable Share and ½ PRMG)– But this must be spread over 43,000 km– Approx. 50% spent on Capital Projects, Salaries, Planning, Design, M&E,

Governance, etc• Enormous historic backlog in new and upgrading roads and bridge projects

particularly in the former homelands (R100+ billion)

– Approx. 50% spent on Maintenance • But still only 25% of budget required for sustainable maintenance• Nationally roads maintenance has been underfunded since the ‘80’s• This has resulted in a huge backlog in maintenance (approx. R13 billion for EC

provincial roads ,)• E Cape problems compounded by damages from a series of recent flood

events (over R 1 billion assessed damages)

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E. Cape I.G.R on Roads Issues• EC DRPW have recently established Road Forums

with every Local, District and Metro Authority.– These Road Forums will amongst others:

• seek to coordinate both municipal and provincial roads issues• act as the channel for citizen issues to be assessed, prioritised,

addressed or referred• Seek to coordinate prioritisation and implementation of new,

rehabilitation and maintenance on road and bridge projects

– EC DRPW has appointed Social Facilitators to act as secretariat for Road Forums and will cover costs of venues, secretarial services and stipends

• EC DRPW also has several SLAs with individual LMAs covering specific projects and programmes

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E. Cape I.G.R on Roads Issues• EC DRPW and SANRAL have a signed SLA and meet

quarterly– SANRAL acts as an implementing agent for DRPW on select

projects– EC DRPW and SANRAL also coordinate on planning,

standards, OHS, common intersections, the secondary strategic network and other issues of common interest

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Road Asset Management System• DRPW has a Road Asset Management System in place

to– Assess and record condition data– Monitor condition trends over time– Determine priority maintenance needs– Optimise the impact of the limited available funding

• During 2011/12 & 12/13 the ECape provincial RAMS will be extended to incorporate the municipal road network as well

• E. Cape will meet the Nat. Treasury requirements for the introduction of a new roads funding model for 2013/14

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Surfaced road network• The Eastern Cape paved network asset:

– Carries fairly high traffic volumes (41% more than 2,000 vpd)

– Has too high % in poor and very poor condition (40%)– Has a substantial % with warning to severe roughness

(43%)– Has a substantial % with warning to severe rutting (31%)– Has very high backlogs for preventive maintenance and

rehabilitation • 1,800 km (33%) require reseals and light rehabilitation• 500km (10%) requires structural repair/ heavy rehabilitation

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Visual Condition Index (VCI) (Surfaced Roads)

• Due to long term underfunding of maintenance the network is currently severely stressed and in a deteriorating condition

• 1996: 12% poor/very poor• 2000: 15% poor/very poor• 2008: 31% poor/very poor• 2009: 32% poor/very poor• 2010: 40% poor/very poor

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Reality

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Pothole Maintenance Programme

• Entire ECape surfaced network has been broken into approx. 250-400km sections and each section is now covered by a conventional outsourced, SMME contractor development team or in-house maintenance team.

• One KPI for these contracts is the repair of any reported or detected pothole within 72 hours.

• With a few exceptions these teams have caught up and are currently on top of pothole repairs. However with the current very poor state of our roads and the rainy season upon us we expect to have numerous problem areas again.

• Pothole warning signs have been erected on many roads where we have these major pothole problems

• On certain roads we have even advised motorists to use alternative routes through signage

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Policy on Reparation for Damages• When minor claims for damages (e.g. Pothole damages) are

received these are initially submitted to the relevant District Roads Engineer to carry out an inspection of the site of the accident and to make a recommendation.

• Liability is assessed on two areas – liability of the state or our contractor as applicable (e.g. negligence in timely repairs or adequate warning) and liability of the driver (e.g. driving in a manner appropriate to the conditions)

• Recommendations are reviewed by the dept. legal advisor • Approved claims for the state are processed by Supply Chain

and must comply with regulations and processes.• Claims for contractors accounts are submitted to the relevant

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Monitoring System for Pothole Reparations

• All claims to be paid by the State are paid from one vote to enable monitoring.

• However claims paid out by our appointed contractors are not currently monitored.

• EC DRPW will institute reporting on claims paid by our appointed contractors as part of their monthly reporting requirements.

• EC DRPW will also investigate the feasibility of including reporting on municipal ‘pothole’ claims paid out as part of our Road Forum Liaison meetings

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Conclusions• The province does not have sufficient budget to adequately address the

poor state of our roads – Potholes are a symptom of a severely deteriorating network.

• Damages from potholes and edgebreaks are likely to continue to climb.• While we can minimise liability of the state by erecting pothole warning

signs the effect on our citizens and transportation costs through the ever climbing vehicle operating costs on our roads is severely hampering economic and social development.

• The EC DRPW will set up a monitoring system to track and report on the pothole reparation costs in our Province.

• Immediate focus is however still on repairing the enormous flood damages sustained in the province

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Province of the

EASTERN CAPEROADS & PUBLIC WORKS

THANK YOU16