KNYSNA NEWS - For those residents living in the Heads in Ward 9 who experienced the pipe bursts last week and subsequent lack of water, this item will be of interest.

At a special mayoral committee meeting held on 2 October, the road maintenance item dealing with the approach to road maintenance, which had been referred from the ordinary council meeting, was again dealt with.

To this end, it was proposed and accepted that funding would no longer be awarded according to the length of road per ward (pavement management system, or PMS), but rather the length of “very poor” roads, as identified by the rural road asset management system (RRAMS), and allocation will be done based on the portion of very poor roads per ward, as a percentage of the total length of very poor roads in Knysna.

The approved and allocated budget, after cuts in August, for RRAMS is R22-million, together with capital spend on upgrades of just over R13-million, for the 2017/2018 financial year. Confirmation of the final figure is being awaited.

Ward budgets for roads

The following allocations have been proposed per ward:

• Wards 1 and 2 will each receive 5% of the total roads budget. They both have just over 1 200m (3%) of very poor roads and will each receive R1.2-million (9% of the capital budget) in upgrades.
• Wards 3 and 8 have 0% of the very poor roads, but these wards, too, are being allocated R1.2-million in capital spend on upgrades, meaning these wards receive 3% of the total budgeted amount.
• Ward 4 has 1% of the very poor roads and, together with a capital allocation of R1.2-million, this ward obtains 4% of the budget.
• Ward 5 has 6% of the very poor roads, amounting to about R1 468 099 and a capital allocation of R1.2-million, allocating it 7% of the total budget.
• Ward 6 has 23% of the very poor roads. It does not receive any capital for upgrades, leaving it with 14% of the total budgeted amount.
• Ward 7 has no very poor roads identified and is receiving 1% of the road upgrade budget resulting in it being allocated less than 1% of the total roads budget.
• Ward 9 has 51% of the very poor roads; it, too, does not receive any capital for road upgrades and the total percentage of the allocation amounts to 32%.
• Ward 10 has 3% of the very poor roads. It is proposed that this ward will receive 45% of the road upgrade budget resulting in 17% of the total amount allocated and the second highest allocation per ward.
• Ward 11 has 11% of the very poor roads, but will receive no capital contribution to road upgrades, giving the ward 7% of the total.

Councillor Levael Davis, the chairperson of technical services, stated that the 51% allocation for the resealing is because the roads there are in the worst condition.

Says Davis, “We cannot continue to have a piecemeal approach to our roads. We have to be strategic and bring all the roads in our town up to scratch. If we can get our really bad roads up to a good standard we will see a marked difference in the next three years.”

Eagle's Way Road at the Knysna Heads. Photo: Julie Jefferys

Wards 9 and 10 received the highest allocation of the total roads budgets and both ward councillors were asked for comment:
Ward 10 councillor Peter Myers stated: "Ward 10 has only received 3% of the road maintenance budget despite having the most roads, the oldest roads and the roads with the most traffic in Knysna. 

"The road upgrade budget has nothing to do with the RRAMS system and in fact, the allocation of R6-million is in respect of a CBD rejuvenation programme devised in previous years. 

"The funds for this programme were allocated in the (2016/17) budget, but remained unspent and were transferred to this year's (2017/18) budget. This effectively means that no, or very little, new money has been allocated to Ward 10 in this regard.

"Ward 10 is the tourist and economic hub of Knysna. The ward contains many of the largest hotels, including the Protea, the Rex and Simola Hotels. 

"It contains the two shopping malls – The Mall and Woodmill Lane, and the Waterfront complex. It contains many guesthouses and B&Bs and of course, numerous restaurants, some of which are iconic brands nationally," Myers continued.

"All tourists to Knysna will either stay in Ward 10 or visit it to take advantage of its restaurants or other facilities and activities. 

"It is not an exaggeration to say that the economic health of Knysna is largely dependent on the businesses and jobs in Ward 10. 

"The state of the infrastructure in Ward 10 is therefore critical to the future growth and success of Knysna."

Ward 9 councillor Mark Willemse had the following comment to make: “Knysna municipality has, historically, not been able to keep up with its road maintenance. 

Under the previous PMS system which had a weighting calculation based on the volume of roads in a ward, Ward 10, having the most roads, generally received the biggest allocation. 

While it is true that Ward 10 is the business hub of Knysna with key points such as the Waterfront and shopping centres, many of the roads have been maintained, such as Waterfront Drive, Remembrance Drive, a portion of Long Street, Rawson Street, which are among those resurfaced.

"The key to RRAMS is that it measures the areas with the most roads in a “poor” or worse condition. 

"As the ward councillor for Ward 9, I have bemoaned the fact that even though Ward 9 is vital to the economy of Knysna with regard to tourism, industry and leisure, the roads used by tourists and potential investors are in such a poor state. 

"RRAMS has identified that this ward has the most roads in a poor condition, which is a change in strategy that allows the rest of Knysna in general, to have the standard of all roads brought in line.

"This cannot be done with a piecemeal approach as we will never achieve a point of having all our roads in a “fair” or “good” condition.

"Although the budget is higher than previous years, KM will have to increase it for the following years if it wishes to see a positive turnaround in the road maintenance strategy. I, therefore welcome the budget allocation for Ward 9.”

ARTICLE: JULIE JEFFERYS, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD CORRESPONDENT

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