06 Feb 2017

Chobe Member of Parliament, Mr Ronald Shamukuni has admitted that the gravel road linking Kachikau and Parakarungu needs serious attention to bring it to a safe and usable state.

Speaking in an interview with BOPA recently, Mr Shamukuni pointed out that poor or bad planning of the road has aggravated its state, particularly during the rainy season.

The MP said that in the budget mid-term review, he will campaign for the appropriate design of the road so that it is implemented and aligned according to the geographical area and also the process of involving the Ministry of Transport and Communications to help out.

“The road is in a very bad state but nevertheless I would say our grading machines have been up and down most of the time, hence leading to poor road maintenance,” he noted.

Furthermore he said the road design is aligned along the flood plain instead of across and they have notified the relevant ministry with promises to mobilise road machinery to try and rectify the issue.

Despite some locals feeling the road could have been long covered under NDP 10 during the upgrade of the Ngoma-Kachikau route, the MP singled out that the main reason for leaving it as gravel was solely due to monetary constraints the government had.

“You will be aware that the road goes through a flood plain and to place a road across a flood plain is not that cheap. So it was not a matter of leaving it out, basically it was budgetary constraints we had that limited us,” added the MP.

A bus driver, Mr Keoagile Montsho who plies the Kasane-Parakarungu route said the rain has affected the road so much that they are forced to travel at a very slow speed.

He said their business has been affected negatively as they now travel only once instead of twice as they used too.

“I will urge the relevant stakeholder to monitor it daily, especially now during the rainy season so that they can maintain where necessary,” he said. ENDS