22 Jan 2017

The Minister of Transport and Communications Mr Kitso Mokaila on Friday January 20 visited some of the ongoing projects in Francistown that are led by his ministry.

The minister toured construction of the Thapama interchange and the construction of Botswana Railways offices respectively.

Speaking during the tour he said it was important to familiarise himself with the projects and see their progress as his ministry intends to bring better changes to the nation.

He said upon finishing the ministry’s management four days retreat in which they discussed ways of taking the ministry developments further, they saw it fit to visit the commonly known construction of the spaghetti road and the construction of BR offices as their main projects in the area.

Mr Mokaila said bringing developments to people comes with disadvantages and setbacks.

“I am aware traffic congestion is a concern in this second city but upon completion of the spaghetti road people of this city will enjoy the fruit of the development as the flow of traffic will no longer be a problem,” he added.

He noted that although the two projects were behind schedule due to some circumstances, he was happy that most of the major aspects will be completed on the agreed schedule.

Furthermore, he commended people of the second city for their patience in the construction of the spaghetti road which has also brought economic implications on them.

For his part, Thapama interchange site agent Mr Shahid Kashani said due to the heavy rains that have been experienced in the city the past month, their deadline of handing over the road for use has been extended to April 2017.

He said despite the extension, the main road of the spaghetti which joins from the A3 road flyover through to Nyangabwe Referral Hospital will be finished and opened for public use by the end of February 2017.

Mr Kashani noted that the other part that will be open by the end of February will be the A1 road, from the Nzano mall which has been in use joining underneath the interchange through to the Blue Jacket Street road.

He said 85 per cent of the road was complete and it will give them time to finish off the 15 per cent time consuming parts by the end of March and do finishing touches until the due date of end of April.

In addition, BR Properties managing director Ms Oarabile Zhikhwa updated that the construction of the new passenger terminal which was supposed to be complete by the end of September 2016 has been extended to 28 February 2017 due to challenges of supply of aluminum.

Ms Zhikhwa said construction of the passenger terminal was due as they have been using the old terminals which were dilapidated and during rainy seasons they experienced flooded areas because of poor drainage. BOPA