MEDIA RELEASE
ROAD UPGRADE BETWEEN BELFAST AND DULLSTROOM GETS THUMBS UP FROM LOCAL TOURISM INDUSTRY
The National Council of Provinces recently paid an oversight visit to the R540 road between Belfast and Dullstroom in Mpumalanga
Mpumalanga, 21 November 2025 – As the country gears up for this year’s Festive Season, the South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited’s (SANRAL) upgrade of the R540 national road between Belfast and Dullstroom has caught the attention of the tourism industry.
Oupa Pilane, the National Chairperson of the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association and the Special Attache responsible for Tourism Development in the Kruger Lowveld said that the tourism sector is excited by the work that SANRAL has done on this road.
“One of the key important factors about tourism is having better roads in order to have access to tourism attractions. This road is an important artery that links the N4 into Dullstroom, and via the Panorama Route (a scenic route known for its spectacular natural scenery, including the Blyde River Canyon, waterfalls, and unique rock formations in Mpumalanga), which eventually leads to Hoedspruit and the Kruger National Park. For years, many tourists could not drive through this route because of the road’s bad condition. This affected many local businesses, as tourists opted to drive through the N4 when going to the Kruger National Park.”
“We are quite excited now because, currently, occupation for holiday accommodation in Dulstroom has almost reached 95% and we are expecting an increase of between 20% to the 30% tourist capacity into this area during the Festive holidays. Tourism figures in this region had previously dropped by up to 50%. With an improved road network, we are optimistic that those numbers will gradually increase,” said Pilane.
Pilane added that in terms of national tourism, the two key sites that are mostly visited by tourists in the country are Cape Town and Mpumalanga.
Speaking at the National Council of Province’s (NCOP) oversight visit to the R540 national road on Wednesday this week, Kwanele Simelane, SANRAL’s Project Manager, said the R540 road was transferred to SANRAL by the Mpumalanga Provincial Government in November 2024.
“The work that we are currently undertaking on the R540 national road stretches from Belfast into Dullstroom and eventually Lydenburg. SANRAL manages a total network of 27 500 kilometres of the country’s national road network. Of that total network, just over 4 700 kilometres is here in Mpumalanga. That is important and significant because it means that this province has the second largest of SANRAL network in the country. This alone demonstrates SANRAL’s prioritisation and injection into this province.”
“SANRAL plans to inject close to R4.5 billion over the next three years in Mpumalanga, and this is in addition to the just over R12.5 billion that SANRAL will inject in major capital projects to respond to the increasing volumes of traffic that come into this province,” said Simelane.
Thulasizwe Thomo, Mpumalanga’s MEC for Public Works, Roads and Transport, welcomed the collaboration that the provincial government has with SANRAL. He said that working together with SANRAL demonstrates government’s ongoing commitment to road infrastructure development.
“We appreciate the work that is being done by SANRAL in the province. The upgrade of this road alone attests to our partnership, and it also means that we will continue to strengthen our work with SANRAL to be able to execute our road construction and maintenance mandate as the department,” said Thomo.
SANRAL Board Chairperson Themba Mhambi reiterated SANRAL’s ongoing commitment to work with the different spheres of government.
He said: “As an entity of the Department of Transport, it is our duty to account to the different spheres of government and to account to government on how we spend the money that is intrusted upon us on behalf of the people of South Africa, including the NCOP. It is therefore an honour for us to have the NCOP come visit this project. As much as this project was handed over to SANRAL, we need to emphasise that this road belongs to the province, and we will continue to work under the province’s leadership and guidance”.
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