22 Jun 2017

The Vice President Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi says P102 million will be required for the construction of a 17 kilometre road to connect Goshwe village to Tutume without the inclusion of bridges.

Addressing a kgotla meeting in Goshwe in the Nkange constituency on Thursday to give residents feedback following a delegation from the village that had gone to see him regarding the bad state of their road, Mr Masisi said as of now they were working towards securing funds that could be used to do the road.

He pointed out that the road was not in the National Development Plan 11 (NDP11) however it would be ensured that it was among the priorities in the midterm review of the plan.

In the meantime, he said, the department of roads would maintain it by grading it twice a month adding that an update from the department was that they were on a tendering process to engage a company to do the maintenance for the next 12 months.

The Vice President said residents might feel disappointed that the government was not yet in a position to improve their road but he said efforts were there to mitigate the situation hence he could not make empty promises only to please them.

“We are not going to tell you something for the good of just saying it but rather we will only tell something when we are certain that we are going to fulfill your request,” he said.

On other issues, the Vice President implored the residents of Goshwe to appreciate other developments in their constituency which he said they too were going to benefit from citing upgrading of Tutume primary hospital which he said was going to be done at the cost of P280 million. Such development, he said are efforts of the government to continue giving Batswana best health care services.

For their part residents expressed disappointment at the delay in improving their road, noting that it has been a long time since they had asked for the improvement of the road.

They noted that during the raining season they were isolated from the rest of the North East since they were surrounded by rivers that overflow.BOPA