23 Dec 2020

Director of Roads, Mr Modisa Segokgo says Foley Bridge, which was recently affected by floods along the Motloutse River, will need less than P4 million to be repaired.

 Mr Segokgo, who was updating President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi during his visit to the site to appreciate the damages caused by the floods, explained that after a thorough assessment by a team of engineers, it was realised that the bridge was still intact, except for the top layer made of bitumen.

“The layer of the bridge needs a lot of work and we are currently working on the cost, which we estimate to be less than P4 million,” he said.

Mr Segokgo said since the road was busy the department had decided to go ahead and repair the damaged part, but it could only do it after the Christmas break because it would have to engage a private company for the work.

“We cannot do this work in-house therefore we need to engage a private company and they are still on Christmas break,” he said.

Meanwhile, Botswana Railways (BR) CEO, Mr Leonard Makwinja said the recent flooding of Motloutse River also affected their line at Foley.  He said in an interview that the damages were estimated to be around P5 million, but the biggest loss came from failing to move products such as salt and soda ash from BOTASH mine in Sowa.

“That is our biggest concern,” said Mr Makwinja, adding that transportation of goods such as fuel and cement to the northern part of this country was affected. 

Mr Makwinja said the company had already started repairing the affected rail line and work was expected to take five days. He was happy that they were being assisted by the Botswana Defence Force. Mr Makwinja thanked the public members, who after seeing Motloutse River overflowing, alerted BR to check if the railway was not also affected. This, he said averted a disaster. Ends