Farmers in the Free State have welcomed the appointment of contractors to fix the R30 “death road”. Since the beginning of the year, farmers who use the road as a strategic route for delivering their harvests to nearby silos and markets, have complained about the poor condition of the road, and later its closure.
Part of the R30 has been officially closed since January 2022’s floods in the province. However, warning signs and barriers were stolen and the road was used daily. Embankments were later thrown across the road which cut off farmers from grain silos.
“The roads department has given permission to farmers to drive their tractors and trailers over the embankments in order to deliver their products,” said Uys van Heerden of Allanridge Agricultural Association.
So far, nearly 25 people have lost their lives driving on the R30. And although Free State Agriculture (FSA) welcomes the eventual appointment of contractors, many lives could have been saved if the government had stepped in earlier, FSA said.
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Complicated red tape costing lives
The R22 million contract will see the repair of a 300m stretch of the R30. According to FSA, work on the road was allegedly supposed to start from 20 November 2022.
By the look of things, the road will have to be completely closed during the repair period. Meanwhile FSA said it is concerned about the time-consuming process of hiring contractors.
According to Jack Armour, commercial manager for FSA, 500 contractors applied for all the road tenders issued by the department and each of these must be physically approved by two committees.
This is further complicated by cumbersome empowerment requirements which in the past have caused cadre contractors, who cannot do the work, to be appointed, FSA said.
“FSA’s position remains that we would prefer the strategically important R30 road from Virginia to Orkney to be taken over by Sanral, which has a much better record of maintaining roads than the provincial department of roads,” said Armour.
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