11 Jul 2018

Residents of Matsheng villages (Tshane, Lokgwabe, Lehututu) say construction of roads is a welcome development after years of countless complaints.

Addressing the second stakeholders’ consultation meeting on the Matsheng access roads recently, Kgosi Merapelo Tsweneyagae said the project came at the right time because residents had been experiencing frequent breakdowns due to bad roads.

Kgosi Tsweneyagae added that bad roads also affected movement of residents and hampered service delivery.

Again, he said construction of roads signified development growth in their constituency.

Over the years the access roads of Matsheng villages as well as the Hukuntsi airstrip had been a nightmare. Further, he said the project would benefit the community economically as small and medium businesses would tap into opportunities provided to expand their services.

He added that the project would also help them in efforts to reduce the unemployment rate in the constituency.

Meanwhile, the government has employed Bothakga Burrow Botswana Limited (BBBL) as the supervising consults to ensure timely completion of the project and within budget.

The BBBL project consultant, Mr Thabo Moeti indicated that the project was 30 calendar days behind schedule. Nonetheless, he said the contractor was working round the clock to cover for the lost time and therefore would complete the project, which cost about P125 million and had employed 73 people thus far, next May.

He said access roads project would be approximately 30.8km covering Tshane Kgotla, which is 6.7km, Lehututu kgotla (7.5km), Lokgwabe kgotla (13km) and Hukuntsi airstrip, which is 3.6km.

Further, he indicated that due to reconstruction, main roads had been closed and old roads have been identified as alternative temporary routes. The temporary routes, he explained, had been improved except the Lokgwabe detour, which was still lagging behind, but the contractor was working round the clock to ensure that it was finished so they may start working on the main road.

He also indicated that they had further put in some safety measure for school children, given that the detour road going to Lehututu passed in front of one of the schools in Hukuntsi. Ends