A total of R100m has been used to buy road-repair equipment to help the Eastern Cape department of roads and transport fix the province’s ailing roads infrastructure in-house.
Roads and Transport MEC Weziwe Tikana said the equipment was delivered to several district offices last week.
It includes tractor loader backhoes, crawler-mounted hydraulic excavators and 12-ton drum vibrating rollers with cabs.
Tikana said one of the challenges highlighted when she took over as roads MEC two months ago was the lack of equipment to conduct road maintenance in the province.
“To address this challenge, the department has reprioritised funding to procure plant [equipment] for districts.
“Our view is that we should build our internal capacity so that we strike a balance between outsourcing and insourcing services.”
The procurement was done through the provincial government fleet management trading entity.
The R100m was used to procure 48 units of the “Yellow Fleet”.
OR Tambo, Chris Hani, Amathole, Sarah Baartman, Nelson Mandela Bay, Joe Gqabi and Alfred Nzo will benefit.