11 Mar 2024

 Due to budgetary constraints and the fact that a new bus rank for Mahalapye will be developed at an alternative location, Mahalapye District Council will consider using the current site for light duty and short distance taxi and minibuses only due to the limited area, says Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Ms Talita Monnakgotla.

Answering a question in Parliament from Mahalapye West MP, Mr David Tshere,  Ms Monnakgotla said the space adjacent to the bus rank would be marked properly to be used for long buses for dropping and picking passengers only, adding that it would address the current congestion.

An expression of interest to construct and operate the new Mahalapye bus rank under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, she said, was floated and had been awarded to Estate Properties.

“Preparations and negotiations for contract signing are at advanced stage and the contractor will be handed the site before end of this financial year. The contractor has committed to have completed the project within 24 months,” she said.

Regarding the current Mahalapye bus rank, Ms Monnakgotla said her ministry, through the then Mahalapye Sub-district, carried out remedial works on the bus rank at a total cost of about P3.2 million during the 2022/23 financial year. She noted that currently there was no activity at the bus rank.

However, Ms Monnakgotla explained that the council had instructed the contractor to remedy the defects on site, but that the contractor did not agree claiming that he was not responsible for the damage. “There is currently a standoff between council and the contractor that needs to be settled under the contractual dispute settlement process. Upon completion of the remedial works, she said the bus bays were opened for traffic and immediately developed structural failure, adding that the contractor then engaged a geotechnical consultant to assess cause of failure and possible recommendations to remedy the defects.

The results, she said, revealed that the structural failure was caused by high moisture content due to shallow water table found at 1.8 metres resulting in high plasticity material.

Furthermore, she acknowledged that the geotechnical report indicated that there was seepage in the area due to high moisture content, explaining that efforts were made to carry out geotechnical investigations through a company called Geotechnics International Botswana (Pty) Ltd in February 2022.“Unfortunately there were no signs of high water table or seepage from the results obtained from test trial pits that were investigated by then," she said.

She said having considered that the remedial works of the bus rank was carried out on an existing facility that prior to the works had never shown signs of failure, and the fact that the initial geotechnical investigations did not detect anything that may result in structural failure, there had never been any determination to charge any officer or contractor to date. 

Mr Tshere had asked the minister how much had been spent on remedial works during 2022/23 financial year, what is being currently done at Mahalapye bus rank and why the project failed even after engaging a private contractor. 

Also, the legislator had asked if at any stage had the Geo-Technical report indicated that there was seepage in the area and why there was no attempt to control seepage in the first instance. 

Mr Tshere further wanted to know what the people of Mahalapye should expect by the end of the year and he also wanted an update on the new Mahalapye Bus Rank which Expression of interest was done under PPP model.

He also asked if there was any officer or contractor who had been taken to task or facing negligence of duty or surcharge as a result of the failed project. ENDS