Government plans to build three more flyover intersections in Gaborone – at Molapo Crossing, Airport Junction, and the Block 8 roundabout – as part of a countrywide infrastructure push, President Mokgweetsi Masisi has said.
Funding for design work and other studies for the three new intersections are included in the Transitional National Development Plan (TNDP), which contains P64 billion in spending plans up to March 2025.
The new interchanges will leave the University of Botswana intersection as the capital city’s last remaining major traffic roundabout after split-level interchanges were commissioned along the Western Bypass earlier this year.
Delivering the State of the Nation Address yesterday afternoon, Masisi named the three new interchanges under a list of strategic infrastructure his administration aims to deliver in the short term.
“Substantial investments in transport infrastructure are being made to connect communities and production areas, as well as link Botswana with countries in the region, through air transport, rail link and the road network,” he said.
Mmegi is informed that the design of the new interchanges may not be the same as the three existing ones, but will account for space and traffic volumes at the different intersections.
The new interchanges will be done under the Development Manager model, government’s new private sector-led approach to project implementation. Under the development manager approach, selected major public projects have been packaged and their implementation outsourced to private companies. At least 140 projects, all under the TNDP, have been bundled under the development manager model and will involve spending more than P13 billion in the next two years.
Besides the interchanges, Masisi announced a long list of continuing and new road projects around the country which he described as “substantial investments in transport infrastructure to connect communities and production areas, as well as link Botswana with countries in the region, through air transport, rail link and the road network”.
Roads to be built in addition during this financial year include Francistown-Nata, Nata-Pandamatenga road; Nata-Gweta, Maun-Sehithwa-Mohembo, Mogoditshane-Gabane-Mankgodi, and Palapye-Martin’s Drift road. While the key 300-kilometre Nata-Maun stretch was not mentioned amongst the projects for this financial year, the economic corridor is listed and budgeted for in the TNDP.
Masisi also confirmed plans to approach the private sector for the dualisation of the A1 Highway, saying an Expression of Interest was due to be floated before the end of the year.
Mmegi last week reported that the dualisation of the Ramatlabama to Ramokgwebana highway will involve toll roads, lending itself to a classic Private-Public Partnership model. Whichever contractor is selected for the project can go beyond engineering, procurement and construction, and recoup their project costs from the tolls paid.
Besides road infrastructure projects, Masisi listed numerous other ongoing and planned developments around public works for the TNDP period and beyond.
Investment in 'growth-enhancing' infrastructure as well as clearing the public projects backlog, are both government priorities under the TNDP, as part of the push towards an export-led economy.
“A central part of the TNDP is to co-ordinate the provision of the economic and social infrastructure that is necessary to support economic activity and boost social inclusion," the plan reads.
