Kouga enhances gravel road maintenance with new equipment and additional team

Kouga – Kouga Municipality is set to significantly boost its gravel road maintenance efforts with the recent procurement of new machinery and the upcoming appointment of an additional maintenance team.

Complementing these improvements is a budget allocation of R1 million dedicated to gravel road maintenance across the Kouga region.

This is expected to substantially improve service delivery.

“By reducing the intervals between maintenance actions such as blading, the quality of work will be enhanced, and response times to emergencies will be quicker,” said Kouga Executive Mayor, Hattingh Bornman. “This upgrade will also address mechanical breakdowns and boost overall maintenance efficiency.”

Road network

Kouga's road network includes 119.6km of earth, gravel, and dirt roads, with 114.1km officially registered as municipal assets.

A concerning 84.6% of these roads are in poor or very poor condition, largely due to 74.1% of the roads having an average gravel thickness of less than 25mm.

“This situation underscores the urgent need for improved maintenance,” said Bornman.

“The current maintenance programme primarily involves blading, which includes scraping and redistributing the gravel layer to fill cracks and level undulations, as well as opening drainage channels. The gravel is then compacted with water to suppress dust and enhance gravel fines.

“To address potholes and erosion damage, G5 uncrushed material is added.

According to Bornman, achieving the required gravel layer thickness necessitates additional material, with estimated costs for the entire network ranging between R40 million and R60 million.

“Kouga is committed to improving its road infrastructure and looks forward to the enhanced capabilities that the new team and equipment will bring,” he said.