06 Feb 2019

Construction of the A3 road between Francistown and Nata has been delayed due to financial constraints.

Member of Parliament for Nata/Gweta constituency, Mr Polson Majaga, informed residents of Dukwi e in a kgotla meeting recently that the road was initially planned to be carried out through the National Road Levy fund in 2018/2019 financial year.

He highlighted that when the decision to use the road levy fund was taken, assessment had not been done and it was later realised that the amount accumulated in the fund was not enough for a project of such magnitude.

Mr Majaga said the road was planned to be done in stages and by more than one contractor, however that did not materialise because the accumulated money was P1.8 billion, as opposed to about P4 billion needed for the project.

He, however, said government had secured a P12 billion loan from the Chinese government, part of which will used for the construction of A3.

Furthermore, he stated that the road will now be done by Chinese companies, which were still undertaking visibility study.

Mr Majaga therefore appealed to the community and people using A3 road to remain patient until such a time that the project will commence.

On other issues, the MP said project implementation in the constituency was worrisome, particularly for this financial year’s projects, adding that some of the tenders were awarded at the beginning of the year, a time to be wrapping up the financial year.

He urged officers to take their work seriously and be accountable when executing their mandate.

Meanwhile, village development committee chairperson, Mr Boenyana Masole said they were concerned about the operations of the Dukwi copper mine, which he said opened and closed without any consultations with the village leadership and the community.

He said the mine closed without having paid its employees their dues and as such asked the MP to request the department of mines and the ministry to address them on the issue. ENDS