12 Aug 2020

The Ministry of Transport and Communications has no plans to construct a bridge at Lepashe during the Eleventh National Development Plan (NDP 11).

Instead,  Minister Thulagano Segokgo said plans were in place to construct a culvert, which would act as a relieve measure for residents of Lepashe and Matsitama during the rainy season.

Answering a parliamentary question on August 11, Minister Segokgo said the tenders for the construction of Lepashe culvert were advertised, opened and evaluated.  Following irregularities found in the handling of tenders, a decision was taken on  July 16 to cancel the tenders and re-tender by shortlisting all the 24 bidders, he said.

Furthermore, Mr Segokgo could not confirm when the bridge would be constructed as it had to be considered in the NDP together with other competing national priorities.

The minister was answering a question from MP for Nata/Gweta, Mr Polson Majaga, who asked the minister to update Parliament on when Lepashe bridge would be constructed and what had caused the delay since residents of Lepashe suffered during the rainy season. ENDS