P34m goes to waste in Boatle-Gaborone road
Bame Piet | Thursday November 23, 2017 16:08
The old road was resealed and had shoulders widened at approximately P34.4 million. The Gaborone-Boatle Road has reached its design life and there is need for its reconstruction to address the pavement distress and also accommodate the current traffic population.
“The recent maintenance intervention to do asphalt overlay was to increase the life-span by another five to six years because at the time a budget had not been secured for the long-term plan to reconstruct the road,” says a response from the roads department.
The dual carriageway is expected to cost approximately P1.7 billion and is at 16% progress as at last week and its completion date is set for March 2019.
Amongst the components of the project is a grade-separated junction at Boatle as well as at Kgale junction.
“Game City A1 intersection will be part of the Botswana Intergrated Transport Project to construct three interchanges at Game City, Block 9 and BTV Circles along the Western bypass. Traffic signals will be erected at the junction entering Kgale Mews by Engen Filling Station where the zero kilometre mark of Gaborone-Boatle project is,” the response from Roads Department further says.
Like its predecessors – Boatle-Ramotswa and Boatle-Gaborone, the dual carriageway is reportedly facing a challenge of shortage of building material particularly suitable soil and gravel, the reports, which the roads department has dismissed.
“We are not aware of any problems as alluded to. The only challenge is acquisition of burrow pits and their mining licences. We are working closely with the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security to resolve the issue,” said the Director of Roads W Segokgo.
The dual carriageway is part of the Economic Stimulus Programme that was announced in 2015.