29 Mar 2015

The Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr Tshenolo Mabeo, says the Thapama circle will be closed on April 8 to pave way for the construction of the Francistown interchange. 

Speaking at the ground breaking ceremony of the interchange, Mr Mabeo said the anticipated Francistown interchange will enhance traffic flow and ease congestion in the A1 Road during peak hours.

He said during peak hours more than 4 000 vehicles pass through the Thapama circle immensely delaying travel time for people, goods and services. Mr Mabeo noted that with the interchange, goods conveyed will arrive quicker and this will act as an attraction for potential INVESTORS and become a potential tourist attraction site. He said besides socio-economic development, decent roads also contribute the government’s efforts to reduce fatalities that continue to claim lives and leave many people with disabilities.

“The construction of this interchange will address key accidents spots as in the case of the junction entering the bus rank from Thapama circle,” he said. The Minister said with the interchange an improvement of activity within the North-South trade corridor and between Martin’s Drift and Kazungula village is expected.

“This corridor is heavily used by commercial vehicles especially freight companies transporting goods and services from Southern Africa to the rest of Africa,” he said. Mr Mabeo said Botswana is a major player in the transportation system within SADC and therefore the quality of its transport system is important to its INVESTOR attractiveness and the country’s competitiveness.

Minister Mabeo thanked the community for their patience, dedication and cooperation during the relocation of their homesteads to pave way for the project. He also thanked the business community for their cooperation, “I know development such as this one can directly or indirectly affect your operations and put your businesses at risk but in the long run the benefits of the infrastructure will boost your business gains a ten-fold”.

On other issues, he said the vehicle population in Botswana continued to grow during NDP9 by 50 per cent from 204 228 to nearly 319 459 and the growth was mainly from private vehicles, public service transportation and heavy commercial vehicles which put pressure on some of the roads.

For his part, Francistown East MP, Mr Buti Billy called on the Ministry of Transport and Communications to consider introducing toll gates particularly between Dumela industrial and the City Centre.

He said trucks that transport goods to Dumela Industrial are normally overloaded and impact negatively on the roads. He noted that toll gates can generate income to repair and maintain roads. ENDS