A3 Road DM confident of quality, timely delivery
Innocent Selatlhwa | Wednesday December 17, 2025 06:00
OAC is one of the few Development Managers who were granted to continue work as the new Government halted multiple projects under the Development Manager model.
The project was awarded at P4 billion, covers 200km of the A3 highway, including the construction of new bridges across the Tati and Shashe rivers, as well as access roads along the villages.
The first 30km section, from Francistown to Mathangwane, is being rebuilt as a dual carriageway, while the remaining 170km will be reconstructed as a single carriageway. For years, the Francistown–Nata road was regarded as one of the country’s most dangerous routes, its pothole-riddled surface earning its reputation as a death trap.
During a media tour of part of the road between Francistown and Mathangwane, there was a lot of activity with the layering of tarmac having already started using a specialised asphalt paver for some parts. The company has also set up what is thought to be the biggest plant for producing asphalt on-site. Construction of the Tati and Shashe bridges has also taken off despite the rivers flowing.
According to Gabana, they take the project so seriously as a means not just to reduce traffic accidents, but also to prove that Batswana can lead and deliver a project of that magnitude within budget and stated time. He said they expect traffic to start using the newly constructed road by February next year, after which the company will begin work on the other double lanes.
“We are building this bridge while the river is flowing, but due to our agility, we planned to mitigate the potential delay from the rainy season. We built as platform above the river level and put water channels to redirect the water to pass through while we are building the foundation of the bridge. This has helped us as we can continue while the river is flowing,” he said about the Tati bridge.
He said that while it is a complex process to build the 20-meter foundations, they had experts who monitored day and night to ensure quality work.
Another stop was at the asphalt batching plant, which Gabana said was a heavy investment that would make their work easier. “This will allow us to produce the asphalt faster. The one that we will be using to lay the tarmac is also a high-efficiency machine, which makes laying of the tarmac quicker as it extends to two lanes, unlike traditional machines that would work on just one lane,” he said.
Gabana said the project is currently at 35% completion against the expected 39% due to some factors like rain and shortage of materials at times. Overall completion is expected by 2027. He said while they will be giving staff time off for festive holidays, they believe traffic will by February be using part of the road by February. He said to make up for lost time, they will continue to work longer hours and even during the holidays to ensure they get the road done on time.
A3 road is currently in a bad state as it has gotten thinner and has a lot of potholes, leading to lots of accidents. Just recently, two people died, and several others were injured after a minibus overturned along the A3 road. The driver, who also suffered serious injuries and later succumbed, reportedly lost control of the minibus while overtaking another vehicle.