THE Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality’s Transport Month programmes are in full swing, with multimillion rand projects forming part of the work being done to improve the metro’s roads and transport services.
The programmes come after the city launched an R11 million war on the potholes project last month which is in line with the city’s efforts to improve roads and transport services.
“We want to introduce and highlight the plans we have to make the roads safe for our people,” NMBM roads and transport portfolio head, Councillor Rosie Daaminds, said.
“Last month we launched a war on the potholes project and that forms part of safety for our vehicles because if the vehicle, taxi and bus is safe you will get a safe commuter that will travel from one point to the other point.”
Daaminds said that all contractors were out in the zones and clusters, from Motherwell to the Northern areas, Summerstrand to Kuyga, adding that the multimillion rand Stanford Road bridge would also be launched soon.
As part of the long term solution to the inevitable potholes problem, the NMBM roads and transport directorate will visit Jeffreys Bay later this month, to check on the plastic roads initiative and investigate the safety and affordability of the plastic road construction technology.
“Frequent walkabouts at taxi ranks will also be conducted to engage with the stakeholders and remind the commuters that NMBM is available to assist whenever needed.”
NMBM Integrated Public Transport System director, Khayalethu Mconi, said that they would be launching a new app for Libhongolethu bus commuters to assist them with information including the bus fares and the bus locations. The app is expected to be launched later this month.
“We will also be doing site visits as well for the projects that are underway from Uitenhage to Port Elizabeth and the last part will be the Jeffrey’s Bay visit where we will be looking at new technology and the new way of constructing roads,” Mconi said.
With the metro’s war on the potholes project underway, NMBM roads and storm water director, Walter Shaidi, urged communities to cooperate with the SMMEs in the wards.
“The SMMEs were already appointed through Supply Chain Management processes years ago, allowing them to work. If you want 30% from them how will they make money if they give work to other SMMEs? They will have nothing to work on.
“We are interested in the plastic roads as they prevent potholes from forming and we expect to do that site visit before the end of the month. We are excited,” Shaidi said.
