The North West province needs R17-billion to upgrade its roads, provincial premier Supra Mahumapelo said on Tuesday.
“We have given Transport Minister [Joe] Maswanganyi our total gravelled road network. He is going to be coming to us on how we can work together to finance. The problem is we do not have the R17-billion needed, excluding maintenance,” he said.
He was addressing reporters on the sidelines of the provincial tourism trade and investment lekgotla in Mmabatho.
He said the provincial government would provide graders to work on gravel roads throughout the province, but the problem was that there is a shortage of people skilled in driving graders.
The purpose of the lekgotla was to create a dialogue between various stakeholders through an integrated approach to enhance tourism investment in the province and promote trade amongst businesses.
Mahumapelo jokingly asked whether gravel roads in rural areas could be used for tourism. “There are people who have not travelled on a gravel road, maybe we can use these roads for people to experience travelling on gravel roads.”
