R74 roadworks etc.

An update from an article on Moneyweb regarding the poor sate of roads in the Freestate and its effect on business:

Road rehabilitation

Businesses and farms along the roads have been devastated in some areas, where once-sound roads have collapsed into veritable 4X4 tracks.

Because the R74 down Oliviershoek Pass is such a mess after Sanyati abandoned its repair a year ago, the Little Switzerland Drakensberg resort has closed the doors of its hotel, leading to the loss of 70 desperately-needed jobs. This occurred, after 60 years of operation. The hotel had a booming Sunday lunch business catering for the citizens of Harrismith only 35km away but the road is so atrocious that it has fallen away completely. At least ten other Drakensberg resorts have also felt the pinch.

Proprietress Carole Anne Mumby said only the timeshare section of Little Switzerland has been kept open.

“Business was bad anyway because holiday makers were pinched by petrol prices and Eskom hikes - but deterioration of the road was the last straw.”

Excerpts from Tourism slumps as Oliviershoek Pass road reaches ‘expiry date’ in The Witness:

“We are currently preparing a document that will be presented to the national Transport Department,” he said.
Ndlangisa told The Witness that the bad part of the road was in the Free State province, not KwaZulu-Natal.
“The Free State appointed a company to fix the road, but somewhere along the way they stopped working. We were told that there were problems between the [Free State] government and the contractor.”

...

KZN Transport Department spokesperson Kwanele Ncalane said the department was working on the issue. “Many roads in the province have reached their expiry dates and the R74 is one of them. The road is very old and damaged.”
He said the problem would not be fixed overnight. “We appeal to people to be patient with us. We are committed to turning the road back to its old condition.”

...

The Automobile Association (AA) is aware of this problem and has also tried to get it sorted out.
AA spokesperson Gary Ronald told The Witness the road had been left completely alone. “The contractor on the R74 stopped working about a year ago. It is absolutely criminal that a major route would influence business because of the lack of a road.”
About two months ago the AA wrote to the national departments of transport and tourism and the Treasury.
The Presidency was copied.
“We sent a letter voicing our concerns and asking for remedial action. We haven’t had a response.”