Limpopo Premier Phophi Ramathuba says they need more than R160 billion to tar the roads in the province. Limpopo has a road backlog of 13 000 kilometres of roads that need to be tarred.

In 2016, the province transferred over 2000  kilometres of road projects to the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) for assistance.

Ramathuba says the province does not have enough funds to accommodate upgrading the roads.

“To tar 13 000 road kilometres can take the entire budget. It costs more than R160 billion. It means you need to double the budget of the whole of Limpopo and not do anything – don’t build schools, don’t buy medicine, don’t build clinics, don’t pay staff, that means take all the budget and build roads, that is impossible.”