13 Nov 2016

The Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Frans Van der Westhuizen has cautioned Pre-Con Construction Company, that delays in the Letlhakeng infrastructure development project will not be entertained . He made the warning during a tour of the project where it emerged that more works were still to be completed despite the contractor being left with just a month before the set completion date.
Mr Van der Westhuizen cautioned the company more so that they were previously given an extension to complete the project.
He said his ministry would therefore not entertain any further extension of time for completion. Mr Van der Westhuizen was however, appreciative of the fact that major works on the project such as roads have already been completed and opened for public use.
He also indicated content after being informed that the contractor was currently doing repairs on houses that have been affected by the construction. He said this meant that disputes between the community and the contractor would be settled before the latter leaves site.
The minister also hailed the move by the Kweneng District Council to compromise on the quantity of streetlights to be installed on the roads in favour of additional works on the storm water drainage system, especially the provision of storm water drains to avoid roads draining into residential plots.
He said the move was welcome given the importance of drainage adding it will also prevent cost over-runs. Mr Van der Westhuizen said this after it emerged that the council reduced the number of planned streetlights in the village to cater for additional storm water drainage works that were not planned for such as additional culvert.
Senior assistant council secretary, Mr Eric Puskas explained that the move was taken after they realised inadequacies in the original design of the project that omitted more areas that needed storm water drainages to prevent flooding into households.
Letlhakeng North councillor, Ms Stella Segwagwa had also raised concern that the initial project concept was that the streetlights and road markings will cover even roads that existed before the project.
Giving the project progress report, the chief civil and mechanical engineer for Kweneng District Council, Mr Gaborone Phiri said currently all works including storm water drains and streetlights stand at 90 per cent against the planned 99 per cent. Ends