http://www.maxauto.co.za/CntView.aspx?CatID=17&CntID=958
North West MEC for Transport Mahlakeng Mahlakeng will launch a new "war on potholes" programme, her department said on Tuesday.
Spokesperson Matshube Mfoloe said the programme will be launched in Ngaka Modiri Molema District (Mafikeng) on Thursday.
"The programme seeks to unleash available, though limited, resources within the department to tackle head-on the state of decay on some of the provincial roads," said Mfoloe in a statement.
"We must take the lead [on this matter]," said Mahlakeng in the statement.
"Talking about potholes and not doing anything to correct the situation, will never make potholes disappear from our roads."
Pothole rapid response team
Mfoloe said two of four teams with custom-made Jetpatcher trucks from the province's pothole rapid response, road marking and maintenance units would be dispatched to patch a 16km stretch of road between Makauspan and Vryhof.
The road also services the rural communities of Mantsa and Ditshilo and is a key route for communities to access the Gelukspan hospital.
Mfoloe said the programme would later be rolled out to three other districts where problem roads had been identified.
Mahlakeng said while there were serious budget pressures on several projects, a total neglect of regular maintenance could not be allowed.
"We have to arrest the situation and begin to get our hands dirty,'' Mahlakeng said.
Mahlakeng encouraged road users to report potholes to the offices of the department in the district and sub-district offices.
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Updated Nissan GT-R Debuts in Tokyo
http://www.maxauto.co.za/CntView.aspx?CatID=26&CntID=959
Nissan has unveiled the updated 2010 GT-R lineup at the Tokyo Motor Show.
Set to go on sale early next year, the GT-R features a new CARWINGS HDD-based navigation system and the rear diffuser from GT-R SpecV.
In terms of performance, Nissan has recalibrated the suspension settings "to offer enhanced, premium quality ride comfort, while still providing the driver with a feeling of direct contact with the road surface." To do this, the company stiffened the rear suspension radius rod bushings as well as the front shock absorbers and springs.
The range-topping GT-R SpecV also receives revised rear shock absorber settings as well as new high performance tires from Dunlop (the previous Bridgestone tires will be available as an option).
Finally, "both the Nissan GT-R and GT-R SpecV achieve improved low- and mid-range engine response, thanks to newly adopted hexagonal meshed catalyst cells that reduce ventilation/airflow resistance."
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Road Accident Fund 'abused'
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The Road Accident Fund (RAF) is being abused leaving road accident victims in the lurch, said RoadCover which assists victims of road accidents claim compensation from the fund.
CEO Eugene Beck said on Wednesday many accident victims received only a fraction of the amount paid out by the RAF.
The interests of motor accident victims and the taxpayers who ultimately fund the RAF are not always best protected by attorneys, he said in a statement.
"Most lawyers representing claimants from the RAF enter into risk sharing agreements (or contingency fee arrangements) with the knowledge that they will receive a percentage of the final settlement.
"Inevitably, some of these lawyers try to push for the highest possible payout, which forces the RAF to defend these claims in court, thereby clogging up the system and leading to lengthy delays in claim settlements."
According to Beck, as the RAF was funded by a levy imposed on the price of fuel, it was taxpayers who ultimately bore the cost of the over-inflated claims.
"In addition, because of the lengthy court process, the legal fees usually end up consuming a large portion of the final claim paid to the victims, who are then left with less than they would have received had the claim been settled out of court for a more equitable amount."
Beck said the criticism that the fund did not have adequate resources was also somewhat unfair.
"If we could eliminate all of the spurious claims against the RAF, then I believe that the fund would be capable of protecting seriously injured victims with its current resources."
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Chrysler 'never had a chance'
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The Obama administration was deeply divided over whether to fund Chrysler's restructuring in bankruptcy and whether the automaker could survive to repay the investment, according to a former senior official.
Steve Rattner, the investment banker who headed the Obama administration's autos task force until July, also said he had been shocked by the "stunningly poor management" at both Chrysler and its larger rival General Motors.
"Everyone knew Detroit's reputation for insular, slow-moving cultures. Even by that low standard, I was shocked by the stunningly poor management that we found, particularly at GM, where we encountered, among other things, perhaps the weakest finance operation any of us had ever seen in a major company," Rattner said in an account of of his stint in the administration, published by Fortune Magazine on Wednesday.
"Years of mismanagement"
Rattner said the decision to offer Chrysler $12 billion in emergency financing to restructure under the management control of Fiat SpA had been "a close call," adding that the administration was ultimately swayed by the view that allowing the automaker to liquidate would cost 300 000 jobs.
"The group was torn," Rattner said, noting that at one point key members of the autos task force had been split 4-to-4 on whether to offer Chrysler financing.
Rattner said when pressed by White House economic adviser Larry Summers, he had estimated the odds of Chrysler surviving for two years at 51%.
He said the automaker under former owner Cerberus Capital Management "never had a chance" because of its high debt and "years of mismanagement."
Bolster GM's chances of survival
White House economic aide Austan Goolsbee, meanwhile, had "led the charge against Chrysler," arguing that allowing the automaker to fail could bolster GM's chances of success.
The revelations from Rattner on the closed-door deliberations on the autos bailouts come at a time when GM is struggling to win back American consumers and Fiat chief executive Sergio Marchionne is readying a five-year turnaround plan for Chrysler.
Rattner forced the resignation of former GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner and provided a first-hand account of his March ouster in his article.
Rattner said he found Wagoner "to be likable, dedicated and generally knowledgeable," but he also said the former GM CEO had "set a tone of friendly arrogance that seemed to permeate the organization."
"It seemed completely obvious to us that any management team that had burned through $21 billion of cash in a year and another $13 billion in the first quarter of 2009 could not be allowed to continue," he said.
Rattner said the automaker's current chief executive, Fritz Henderson, had been "enthusiastic" about his promotion and had asked not to be tagged as an "interim" choice.
No comment
Wagoner, he said, also supported the selection of Henderson as his successor and questioned at one point whether Rattner also intended to fire United Auto Workers president Ron Gettelfinger, a political ally of the Obama administration.
Rattner said Wagoner had also cautioned him against hiring an outsider at GM to replace him, citing the example of Ford Motor Co.
"'Alan Mulally called me with questions every day for two weeks after he got to Ford,'" Rattner quoted Wagoner as saying.
Wagoner, who retired in August with a package worth $8.6 million, has not commented on the meeting with Rattner or his ouster.
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