17 Dec 2015

The capital city’s mayor, Mr Kagiso Thutlwe, says Gaborone’s storm water drainage is continuously maintained.

Speaking during opening of Gaborone City Council (GCC)full council meeting this week, Mr Thutlwe said the council was mandated with developing and maintaining roads and associated infrastructure such as walkways and bus shelters for the smooth and safe traffic flow.

Councillor Thutlwe noted that the city’s roads were not in a good state  due to poor maintenance and rehabilitation, which the council was faced with due to budgetary constraints. 

He, however, said they used the little funding they had to attend to the most critical areas of the roads.

He stated that they had outsourced construction of four storm water drainages in Extension 10, Block 8, Block 7 and Block 6.

He further said all the drainages had a combined length of 2 459 metres and had been outsourced to citizen owned contractors at a total sum of P3 265 652.30 as a way of empowering locals.

To augment this, Mayor Thutlwe said they had engaged the council crew to construct some storm water drainages at Block 5, Extension 12, Block 3 and part of Block 6.

He said though that was not much, they would continue to prioritise areas depending on the availability of funds to contribute towards addressing the issue of flooding in the areas especially that the rainy season has begun.

On the roads issues, Mayor Thutlwe explained that most of the city roads have developed pot holes mainly because they have reached the end of their design life. 

He said therefore, there is obstruction of smooth flow of traffic and at times results in accidents. 

He however, stated that they have a dedicated team to attend to potholes in the City, saying they have outsourced pothole patching to four contractors and have so far spent around 79 per cent of the budget.

He also raised fears that as it is rainy season, they might experience an increase in the number of potholes and requested that the public report to the council as soon as they develop so that they could be attended on time.  

He also said the City experience serious challenges of flooding in both residential areas and roads due to lack of proper drainage systems

. He pointed out that many streets do not have storm water drainages to channel water flow, saying others which exist are full of silt or show strains of lack of maintenance.

He stated that the council has developed a storm water drainage master plan to fully address the problem, saying but due to lack of funds, development and proper maintenance of existing drainages is a major challenge.

He said he hopes to get funding in the near future in order to fully address the situation.

On other issues, Mayor Thutlwe appreciated some companies that have partnered with the council in maintaining some access roads in the city. 

He stated Tlotlo Hotel and Conference Centre that is currently working with the council to pave the road from Block 5 to the hotel.

“The hotel provides material and labour, while the council is doing earth works and providing supervision,” he stated.

He also hailed Clover Botswana for providing the council with materials for the maintenance of the road in front of their factory.

He commended the two companies’ initiatives, saying if all other companies could follow suite, their roads would improve significantly.

He therefore, challenged other companies to assist the council in whatever way possible to improve the appearance of the City. Ends