Plaatjan-Phikwe road project takes shape
Staff Writer | Monday September 22, 2025 10:10
The project went out to tender earlier this year, with interest received from several bidders. However, Mmegi is informed that questions have been raised about the costing of the project, particularly when alternatives are available.
“The quote of P300 million for a 30-kilometre project is just too excessive to justify at this point,” sources told Mmegi. “The BDF has indicated its ability to undertake the project, and farmers have also committed to providing access, aggregates, and any other support required to make the project a success,” added the source.
Earlier in the year, when answering questions in Parliament, the Minister of Trade and Entrepreneurship, Tiroeaone Ntsima, said a tender on the construction of the road was undergoing evaluation and was due to be concluded around August or September this year.
“It is anticipated that the commencement of the project is likely to take place by the beginning of the third quarter. The construction of the road is estimated to take 24 months,” he said.
The latest developments come amidst reports of intense lobbying and campaigning amongst bidders who were hopeful that the project would land in their laps.
At one point, SPEDU records estimated that the road could cost P432 million.
“There’s a history of SPEDU being unable to handle certain sizes of projects, and the feeling is that it could be better handled elsewhere,” the sources said.
Plans for the road date back to a 1991 arrangement between the government and the European Union known as the BCL Sysmin Re-employment Account (REA). The REA received repayments of loans by BCL and Tati Nickel for preferential credit extended by the European Union.
In this way, the REA turned the debt into a grant towards the diversification of Selebi-Phikwe, with a list of projects drawn up which would be funded to ensure the town survived even if BCL Mine closed down.
The road was part of the projects that were included, and momentum gathered when the new Plaatjan Bridge opened in 2022.
While the Bridge promises ease of access to Selebi Phikwe, the road from the border to the town remains gravel, hindering prospects for agriculture, tourism, and other economic opportunities offered by the bridge.
The European Union has confirmed that it remains financially supportive of the road project.
“Today we visited Platjan bridge and we used the gravel road leading there,” said Jan Sadek, EU Ambassador to Botswana, at an event in Phikwe in 2022. “I know that planning for transforming this stretch into a regular tarred road is ongoing. “The project will use the full balance of the funds under the REA account, and I wish SPEDU great success in the timely execution of the project,” added Jan Sadek.
Sadek explained that the EU had received a preliminary assessment by the then Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry on the socio-economic and environmental Impacts of the road.
“We understand the economic benefits that the project will bring to the region by easing the movement of people and goods to and from South Africa and reducing the time (and cost) of transportation to tourism destinations and horticulture farms in the Tuli Block,” he said.
Authorities in Selebi-Phikwe say together with the bridge, the road could open up an economic corridor through the town and upwards to the Kazungula Bridge.