There is no backlog of 35 000 potholes to be fixed - Plato

The City received a total of 35 954 pothole notifications between January 2020 and March 2021 – 28 108 of those notifications were completed. File picture: African News Agency(ANA)

The City received a total of 35 954 pothole notifications between January 2020 and March 2021 – 28 108 of those notifications were completed. File picture: African News Agency(ANA)

Published Jul 27, 2021

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In references to the article, “Pothole problem in Cape Town townships getting bigger” (The Cape Argus, July 22, 2021).

The City’s Transport Directorate’s service delivery report clearly states there are 7 846 notifications that remain outstanding, contrary to claims from misleading politicians who claimed there is a backlog of 35 000 potholes. The 7846 backlog has been further reduced to 6963, despite ongoing heavy rainfall in Cape Town over recent weeks.

The City received a total of 35 954 pothole notifications between January 2020 and March 2021 – 28 108 of those notifications were completed as per the table on page 4 of the City’s report. Thus, our completion rate was 78.2% for this period. Since March that figure has been further reduced to 6 963 outstanding notifications resulting in a 80.6% completion rate.

The formation of potholes during winter is a common occurrence as it is directly related to the heavy rainfalls and the age or condition of the roads. Thus, the road repair teams can often only perform temporary repairs on potholes as a holding action until more favourable, drier weather conditions allow for more permanent repair. Permanent repairs will not be effectively achieved when a road or the base layers underneath the road are still wet.

Potholes are assessed and made safe as soon as possible after it has been reported. A permanent repair will then be scheduled and this can take between two and six weeks given our current backlog.

* Mayor Dan Plato, Executive mayor of the City of Cape Town.

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.

Cape Argus

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