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Smart number plates and 25-year vision: Here is Gauteng's roads budget
MEC Kedibone Diale-Tlabela stated that only 47% of Gauteng's provincial roads were considered to be in a fair condition.
The Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport (GDRT) is embarking on a decades-long journey.
This is the goal of MEC Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, who outlined the department's budget and goals for the upcoming financial year and beyond.
For the past two years, GDRT have been working on a revised 25-year Integrated Transport Master Plan (ITMP25), which it hopes will gain further traction in the next quarter.
Revolutionary spirit
The MEC began her budget speech on Wednesday with a quote from Nelson Mandela, two days before the nation celebrates Mandela Day.
'It is in the character of growth that we should learn from both the pain and the progress of our past,' she said.
Diale-Tlabela then went on to praise Soviet leaders Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky for building 'the Red Army from a train car'.
The MEC saluted the communist pair's vision of using transport to propel the 'movement of history'.
'Without control of transport, there can be no control of production, no coordination of labour, and no foundation for planning,' stated Diale-Tlabela.
'The final ITMP25, after an extensive consultative process, will be submitted in the second quarter of the current financial year to the Premier and Executive Council for approval,' she explained.
The ITMP25's core aims, among others, include linking economic zones with reliable transport infrastructure, travel demand management, enhanced digitisation, and decarbonisation.
Budget of almost R10 billion
To achieve these goals, the department will have R9.7 billion of state funding at its disposal.
Planning, construction and maintenance will be allocated R2.7 billion and R672 million will be earmarked for administrative functions.
R3 billion will go towards public transport and the funding of 16 subsidised bus contracts across four municipalities.
A further R2.2 billion will be allocated to the Gautrain system — a service where roughly 9 200 people have successfully accessed their 50% Gautrain discount in 2025.
Smart solutions
The length of roads under the department's jurisdiction total 5 593km and include 664 bridges and 450 major culverts.
The MEC conceded that only 47% of surfaced roads under the department control were in a fair condition while 100% of the 1 232km of gravel roads were in a poor condition.
Despite this, Diale-Tlabela said the department achieved 84% of the annual targets and has recently identified 54 critical roads across five regions for upgrades.
Other upcoming initiatives include the rollout of smart licensing centres throughout the province and smart traceable number plates, which will feature QR codes and tamper-evident decals.
'Given that a vast majority of criminal acts involve vehicles with falsified number plates, this initiative is crucial for law enforcement agencies to effectively trace and apprehend offenders,' stated the MEC.
Monitoring of the smart infrastructure will be done through a centralised command and control hub which could be operational by the end of the financial year, subject to procurement processes.
A rapid response unit has also been established to 'facilitate timeous interventions' to problems raised by communities.
Human capital
Diale-Tlabela noted that an advanced recruitment plan was in effect to fill 68 key vacancies within the department.
Human resources have also been bolstered through the hiring of 81 interns working in various branches of the department, which serves as a dual skills development and empowerment project.
The MEC said that the department aimed for 50% equal gender representation among staff, noting that the current split was 59% male and 41% female, with 0.6% of the total comprising persons with disabilities.
'As part of professionalising the sector, the Candidacy programme is one of the instruments that are being utilised to ensure that there is long-term technical capacity in the organisation,' the MEC concluded.
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