MEC for Transport and Community Safety in the Eastern Cape Xolile Nqatha has told the provincial legislature that R3.8-billion a year is needed for road maintenance. Potholes have now become so bad that it doesn't help to 'patch' them any more.

The Eastern Cape needs R3.8-billion a year to fill the province's potholes and maintain provincial roads, MEC for Transport and Community Safety Xolile Nqatha has told the legislature.

Nqatha said that while they were "continuously attending" to road maintenance, the budget of R800-million was hampering efforts to address backlogs.

"The department is currently receiving about R800-million from the Provincial Roads Management Grant for maintenance of its network, against the required budget of R3.8-billion per annum.

"The situation is exacerbated by gross underfunding on equitable shares, meaning that it heavily relies on the Provincial Roads Maintenance Grant," Nqatha said.

"Damage on the provincial network is a result of inadequate maintenance over the years, which was mainly due to underfunding. [The] majority of the surfaced network no longer requires pothole patching due to excessive damage on it. [The] department has started a process of meaningfully maintaining (reseals and rehabilitation) its paved network," he said.

Nqatha said they could, on average, undertake two projects a year to resurface and reseal roads.

The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber's Denise van Huyssteen said due to the rail system being affected by cable theft, goods were increasingly having to be transported by road.

This, in turn,...