Durban — EThekwini Municipality mayor Mxolisi Kaunda on Thursday unveiled 127 new vehicles to enhance the roads and stormwater management fleet.
The fleet will be used to accelerate service delivery and speed up repairs of infrastructure damaged during the floods.
The municipality has invested R270 million to replace the fleet of heavy commercial vehicles and yellow plant vehicles.
The unveiling was held at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Thursday.
The new fleet consists of super pothole units, road patchers, high-pressure jetting units, construction water tankers, 10 cubic metre tippers, a combination jetting vacuum truck, crane tipper, graders as well as lines and signs units.
“Road infrastructure is critical in facilitating development and economic growth in the city which is why we took the decision to invest in this fleet. This new fleet will also help the city speed up the process of rehabilitating infrastructure that was damaged during the April floods,” Kaunda said.
The municipality’s move to invest in resources is in line with the commitment made by the city three years ago to invest in infrastructure to improve service delivery in eThekwini.
“Recently, we launched the Cleansing and Solid Waste fleet to improve waste management in the city. Over a period of five years, we plan to spend about R500m on waste management infrastructure. We also recently unveiled the R380m new bus fleet to provide safe, affordable and reliable transport to commuters, particularly the poor and the working class,” Kaunda said.
The municipality currently has 320 vehicles which have exceeded the optimum life span of 12 years. These vehicles already require major refurbishment. They include three vehicles that were damaged in the recent floods and need to be replaced immediately.
“One of the benefits of this new fleet is that it does not require major maintenance and repairs. Therefore, people will see more of our yellow fleet in their communities maintaining and building new infrastructure,” Kaunda said.
The April floods left a trail of destruction with 60% of eThekwini areas inaccessible by public transport as some roads and bridges were washed away.
These areas include Molweni, Tshelimnyama, Umzinyathi, Mpola and KwaNdengezi.
The new fleet will assist to speed up the repairs and clearing of road infrastructure in these areas.
“With this fleet, we will also be able to accelerate road maintenance across the City and eradicate potholes. Some of the equipment will be used to maintain our stormwater drainage system. This is critical as we are approaching the rainy season,” Kaunda said.
He encouraged communities to use demarcated areas to dispose of waste to avoid blocking the drainage system.
Daily News