23 Mar 2017

Gaborone City mayor, Mr Kagiso Thutlwe says over P354 milllion is required to maintain roads that were damaged by recent rains.

Addressing the ongoing full council meeting in Gaborone on March 20, Mr Thutlwe said an in-depth assessment of the damage caused revealed that roads which were severely affected were those in Gaborone West Phase 4 Industrial Area, which he said needed urgent attention as their deplorable state affects the economy.

He also said the recent rains had washed away most of the internal gravel roads which were mainly in SHHA areas.

“Generally the city experienced flash floods due to inadequate stormwater drains and existing stormwater drains overloaded,” he said.

He said bituminous roads have developed potholes throughout the entire city road network, adding it was difficult for contractors on site to cope with the maintenance of potholes.

He further said out of the P4.2 million allocated for pothole patching during financial year 2016/17, P3.9 million had been expended so far covering 16 900m2 of potholes.

Thus, he called on councillors to strictly monitor road works to guard against poor workmanship by some contractors to avoid a situation whereby roads were maintained after every rainy season.

With regards to the P10 million Constituency Community Project funding, he said the money came at a time when funds were needed most.

To that effect, Mr Thutlwe called on councillors to make use of the funds to improve the lives of their electorates.

He said the council has been struggling with inadequate resources, adding that as soon as a project memorandum was submitted to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development for the release of the funds to effect implementation, priority projects should be in place.

“It is my hope that as we submit projects for funding, these will be projects that will address issues of employment creation and infrastructure maintenance,” he said. ENDS