13 Apr 2025

Once completed, the 52-kilometre road linking Mokatako to Borobadilepe will support efforts to grow and transform the economies of the villages through which it passes.

At a kgotla meeting he addressed in Hebron on Thursday, Member of Parliament for Good Hope-Mmathethe and Acting Minister of Lands and Agriculture, Dr Edwin Dikoloti, said the road carried the aspirations of the people of the affected villages, as it would contribute to the empowerment of locals in different ways. 

Labelling it a production road, Dr Dikoloti rallied residents to use it to emancipate their area from the economic stagnation that they were currently faced with. 

He said with a good road network being the soul of economic activity, residents should position themselves to exploit the road to improve their lives. 

Dr Dikoloti said while the road would have enduring benefits for communities, residents would also benefit in the short term through job opportunities during the construction phase. 

“So far 15 locals have been engaged but given the burden of unemployment that we are carrying as a country, we expect more people to be hired,” he said. 

On an unrelated issue, he encouraged people of his constituency to engage in cultural tourism as a vehicle for economic diversification. 

He said with the cultural diversity that their area was endowed with, they stood to reap great benefits, which included culture promotion and preservation. 

Dr Dikoloti said cultural tourism was another strategy through, which residents could wage war on the unrelenting unemployment. 

Project coordinator of the Mokatako-Hebron-Borobadilepe road project, Mr Kebakamang Ntimang, from the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, said the construction of the P528.9 million project would take 36 months. 

Mr Ntimang said the project, which started last December, was being implemented using the design and build method through which both the design and construction phases were bundled up and awarded to the same contractor. 

He explained that presently it was anticipated that the design of a 12-kilometre stretch from Borobadilepe to Hebron would be approved in the next two weeks. Assuring residents of Hebron that the project would be delivered within schedule, he added that the ministry would keep them abreast through quarterly kgotla meetings where progress updates would be made. 

Project manager, Mr Meshack Chiwanga from the contractor, Landmark Projects, affirmed that the actual construction would begin in two weeks’ time, as the design phase was almost complete. 

Mr Chiwanga said the assessment of the state of properties within 100 metres of the project was also ongoing in different places including Borobadilepe, Ditlharapa, Phihetswane and Hebron. 

While the residents hailed the announcement that project implementation would take off in a matter of weeks, they expressed their desire for the contractor to leave a mark in their village buy handing over to them the site office upon completion of the road. 

A resident, Mr Molebeledi Makgolo, also appealed for the contactor to consider sourcing services from residents of the affected villages. 

Mr Makgolo said the contractor should ensure that residents benefit during the construction phase through rentals of properties, amongst other things. 

On a different subject, a Ditlharapa resident urged government to sensitise the public on the subject of industrial hemp. 

He alleged that since talk of hemp farming began, the use of dagga had become widespread as some people assumed that the possession and use of dagga had been de-criminalised. ENDS