12 Feb 2023

Palapye will get 25km of internal roads as well as storm water drainage during the Transitional National Development Plan (TNDP) 2023/2024 to 2024/2025 under village infrastructure development.

Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Sethabelo Modukanele said this in Parliament on February 10 in response to a question from MP for Palapye, Mr Onneetse Ramogapi, on when Palapye internal roads and storm water drainage would be built.

Mr Modukanele said the project scope would also include expansion of the main village roads and solar street lighting.

Currently, he said there were 27 cases of reported plots that were affected by floods in Palapye extensions 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.

“My ministry through the Central District Council has started investigations on the extent of the flooding problem, as well as identifying all the plots that might have been affected. Provision has been made for the planned expansion of Palapye internal roads and construction of storm water drainage during the said period as a long term solution to alleviate the situation,” he said.

He added that a total of 27 plots that were demarcated by physical planners and outsourced companies had been identified to be affected in flooding areas, and the actual statistics would be availed upon release of the investigations report.

The assistant minister further explained that the actual number of houses that had developed cracks at Extension 6 and the cause thereof would be revealed by the ongoing investigations.

“Due diligence is done to ensure that people are allocate plots in safe areas, which when built-up, flooding can be mitigated through construction of storm water drainage system.

Government cannot deliberately allocate plots in a land that is prone to flooding,” he said. ENDS