25 May 2023

Government has taken the decision to construct a bailey bridge to connect Tobane and Tshokwe as a temporary measure to assist residents of the two villages to cross the Molabe River, a tributary of the Limpopo River.

Minister of Transport and Public Works, Mr Eric Molale informed Tshokwe and Tobane leadership during a familiarisation tour of the road connecting the two villages on Tuesday, that the bailey bridge would be constructed under the Transitional National Development Plan (TNDP).

He explained that the project would ease movement of  Tobane and Tshokwe residents particularly during rainy seasons. He urged the village extension teams, dikgosi, village development committees and councillors in the two villages to monitor the upcoming project and other projects undertaken in their respective villages and further submit reports to the office of the district commissioner.

Mr Molale also toured Mmadinare-Robelela road, which would be upgraded to bitumen standard through the TNDP this financial year. 

He said a tender for the project was in the process of being awarded.

He explained that construction of the roads came at a time when government was looking into the issue of e-tolling of the A1 high way to help raise sufficient revenue to maintain existing roads as well as build new ones.

However the minister said for government to implement e-tolling, there was need for alternative routes that motorists who could not afford toll gates could use, citing the Mmadinare-Robelela-Matsiloje road as one of the alternative routes that motorists could utilise to avoid toll gates.

 Mr Molale, who is also Goodhope/Mabule MP, said his ministry sourced P5 million for maintenance of graders with the intention to place the graders at cluster level for regular grading of untarred roads.

He also emphasised that local authorities and central government departments should work together and share resources as Constituency Community Projects (CCP) had been shifted to focus on internal roads.

Where resources were not available, Mr Molale said, the service could be outsourced to individual citizens who owned graders or other equipment, adding that an inventory with a list of citizens who owned graders and other equipment had already been submitted to his office.

Mr Molale also toured construction projects at Letsibogo and Tlapalakoma primary schools.

He said project supervision was very critical in ensuring that projects were delivered on time, on budget and right quality.

He said the government introduced the development manager model to strengthen supervision of projects.

For their part leadership in Tobane, Tshokwe, Mmadinare and robelela villages applauded the government for responding positively to their concerns, saying that these developments would breathe some life into their villages. Ends