Evaluating the Strategic Effectiveness of Road Asset Management Practices for Sustainable Infrastructure Performance in Gauteng, South Africa
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51137/wrp.ijarbm.521Keywords:
Road Asset Management, Infrastructure Sustainability, Governance Fragmentation, Digital TransformationAbstract
Road infrastructure plays a critical role in economic growth and social mobility, yet many developing regions struggle with ineffective asset management systems. Poor governance fragmentation, low digitization, and patchy application of national frameworks in South Africa hamper sustainable infrastructure performance. This paper will assess the strategic performance of Road Asset Management (RAM) practices in Gauteng Province. Qualitative phenomenological design was taken. The sample was purposely chosen consisting of the ten infrastructure professionals in the municipal and provincial institutions. The semi-structured interview was used to collect data and thematic analysis was used to analyze data. These findings indicate three significant obstacles including broken and responsive governance design, insufficient adoption of digital technologies, and institutional knowledge-operational implementation gap. Despite the availability of policy frameworks and technical skills, lifecycle-based planning is limited by poor coordination and low digital preparedness. There is also a lack of standardized Integrated Asset Management Framework (IAMF), which serves as an additional weakness to strategic alignment. The paper has identified the necessity of integrated governance reform, province-wide digitalization, and active lifecycle management. It adds to the literature because it combines Stakeholder Theory, the Resource-Based View, and the Technology Acceptance Model to identify the reasons behind the performance of RAM in a developing provincial environment.
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