Louis Trichardt residents might see a drastic improvement in the town’s roads within the next couple of months.

The issue of the dilapidated state of the town’s roads served before the Makhado Municipality’s executive council (Exco) during their meeting earlier this month.

As background, the Makhado Municipality’s streets comprise a total of 168 kilometres, of which about 127 kilometres are within Louis Trichardt.

"These streets have not been rehabilitated for the past 12 years. For proper maintenance of the streets, there is a need to have the streets resurfaced every four to five years. This has not been happening for the streets in Louis Trichardt," a report in Exco’s agenda states.

To start addressing the matter, mention is made in the report of a project which will see the rehabilitation, repair and protection of the existing infrastructure. The estimated proposed budget for the project is R17 680 000, which includes professional costs, specialized services, construction costs, contingencies and VAT.

Various streets within town form part of the project’s business plan. These streets have various problems; however, the most dominant one is that of base or structural failures.

The project forms part of a bigger proposed project that will see all aspects of the road infrastructure addressed, including, amongst others, the repairing and upgrading of the town’s drainage system, sidewalks, edge repairs and road markings. The project cost in this regard totals close to R79,5 million. The major cost of this would be the rehabilitation of the road base.

"The magnitude of the project is very high in such that the municipality cannot afford to fund it in one financial year," the Exco report mentions. Council therefore proposes that the project be achieved in four phases. The major concern would apparently be the internal streets that form part of Louis Trichardt’s CBD, which are at a higher risk of deterioration because of the excessive volume of vehicles in town. Some of the streets mentioned include Rissik, Songozwi, Stubbs, Hlanganani, Waterbessie, Meerkat, Tshirululuni, Breda, Krogh, Kruger, Leeu, Burger, Grobler, President, Kort, Boabab and Erasmus Street.

In conclusion, the report states that the Makhado Municipality’s streets are currently in a bad state, that the streets were not resurfaced within the recommended periods, that the municipal streets are no longer viable for normal maintenance, that the pothole patching for these streets will not alleviate the challenge and that the only proper intervention will be to resurface, rehabilitate and reconstruct the streets. As for Council’s recommendation, it is stated that they should try and secure the initial R17 680 000, utilizing MIG funds for the 2008/9 financial year for implementation on April 1. The recommendation was supported by the directors of corporate and community services, as well as the chief financial officer and the municipal manager.