Thanks to the ongoing Mmamashia water treatment plant and associated waterworks project whose components among others include the re-laying of the wornout 2km stretch of road linking the Mmamashia treatment plant to the main road-A1, at the Oodi junction. Khato Civils media page went full blast with their latest exhibition with the state of the art cinematography, often using airborne cameras, to zoom into the details of the newly constructed stretch of the road. Other than water works, roads engineering and construction are another field Khato Civils has developed specialty where they also possess the highest possible industry grading, grade 9, as per the South African industry ratings.
Among their signature works in the field is the highly sophisticated Johannesburg double decker bridge construction project, which was executed with minimal disturbance of traffic. Khato Civils successfully rescued the project, which had turned into a nightmare for previous contractors. According to Khato Civils chief executive officer, Mongezi Mnyani the 2km road project is part of the associated works for the water treatment plant project. “It had dilapidated; it was an old road with potholes all over and Water Utilities Corporation decided it had to be replaced, as part of the on-going works'', he said. Raving about their latest accomplishments, Mnyani said: “We conducted a survey to see how our design would fit on the old road. We sampled the existing road’s materials for control purposes.
We ripped and compacted the top layer of the old road, in order to create a uniform layer over the 2km distance.” Mnyani said the road level was raised by 480mm, with three 150mm layers and 30mm asphalt. The road was also slashed and mopped to remove any loose materials. It was the primed and applied asphalt paving, as well as the installation of the kerbs on either side of the road. He also said the road construction started on October 15, 2021 and was technically completed on the January 11, 2022.
It was opened for public use on January 12. “The road was closed during the December break but cattle were vandalising it, especially newly laid Asphalt, so we opened the road recently for traffic to use, while subsidiary work, which does not interfere with the use of the road, like storm water drainage, will be completed by mid-February 2022”, he said, adding that these include road markings, road signs and drainage system installation. “We had to consult property owners before constructing the road.
Four houses had their fences too close to the road. The fence should be at least five metres away from the road. We requested permission to move the fences. Where permission was not granted, we moved the road away from the fence. It was a challenge getting hold of all the property owners because some of them were not around at the time we wanted to engage them. This resulted in delays. Some had special requests and we accommodated them. We built bell mouths at the side junctions," he explained. True to their signature local empowerment programme, Khato Civils subcontracted priming and asphalt paving to a citizen company, Asphalt Botswana.
The transportation of material from the quarry to the road was also subcontracted to a local company, Gasekgalo. Others who benefited include VTH Equipment, Rocla Botswana, Panda Botswana, PPC Botswana, Kopong Quarry and Mokolodi Quarry. According to Mnyani there were 35 direct jobs that were created, employing local people to work in the project. “The suppliers and other sub-contractors also created their own employment opportunities given the services that we contracted them for".
