Condition of south africa's transport fixed infrastructure : the fourth journey along this road

Abstract

Service delivery problems, particularly those attributable to the adequacy or inadequacy of operation and maintenance of infrastructure, have received heightened attention across the country. In 2006 the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) released the first ever “report card” of the condition of engineering infrastructure in South Africa. The purpose of the report card was to draw the attention of government, and of the public at large, to the importance of maintenance, and to factors underlying the state of repair of infrastructure. The success of this report card was such that SAICE, greatly assisted by its then partner the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), brought out further report cards in 2011 and 2017. Another, this time primarily the work of volunteers from the technical divisions of SAICE, was released during the fourth quarter 2022. Of the dozen public sector infrastructure sectors assessed in 2022, no less than five concern transport, viz: • Roads. • Airports. • Commercial harbours. • Fishing harbours. • Rail. This paper: • Reviews the drivers of infrastructure, and particularly of the condition of infrastructure. • Reports the transport-related findings of the 2022 national infrastructure report card – in the context of all infrastructure sectors. • Identifies trends in and the key drivers determining this condition.