19 Sep 2019

The P391 million Tshesebe /Masunga road project tender has been awarded to Bango Trading company and Zebra Construction in a joint venture.

The project was awarded to Bash Carriers in 2017 to the tune of over P430 million but the contract was terminated by government this year.

Addressing the North East District Full Council meeting Wednesday, Department of Roads senior roads engineer, Mr Prince Moalosi said the tender was currently on a 10-day cooling period and the expectation was that no contender would protest the award within this period.

Mr Moalosi said the roads department would continue to gravel some of the roads within the district with the limited resources at its disposal.

He said priority would be given to roads with high volumes of traffic but if resources permit other roads would be considered too.

Initially, Mr Moalosi explained that funds which were allocated to the department for road maintenance in the current financial year got exhausted in the middle of the year.

However, he explained that the department managed to source  some funds and promised that some gravel roads which were left behind would be attended to with immediate effect.

However, he complained that there was a serious problem of vandalism on the road fence and gates especially along the A1 Highway (Ramokgwebana / Ramatlabama) and appealed to the councillors to assist in addressing the problem.

Mr Moalosi noted that a week hardly passes without a gate having been stolen and that vandalism of the road fence was the order of the day along A1 road.

The public, he said, needed to be sensitised on the problem, adding that the roads department had concluded that all the missing and stolen gates would be replaced in due course.

He told councilors that the department was working round the clock to ensure that the maintenance of the Francistown /Matsiloje road was done without delay.

Furthermore, he said a private consultant had been engaged by the ministry to find out what could be the problem and the report was expected within a month time.

Councilors complained about the bad state of the road and requested for clearing of the bush along the Tonota/ Ditladi road.

However the department explained that they were still awaiting quotations from various companies.

Councilors thanked government to have taken a bold decision to re-tender the Tshesebe/Masunga road. ENDS