20 Mar 2014

The recent heavy rains that hit the northern part of the country have disturbed government’s plans to implement some key projects planned for the area.

The Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr Nonofo Molefhi said during a kgotla meeting at Gulubane in the North East District on March 17 that the paving of the road linking their village to the Francistown-Nata highway was on hold.

Minister Molefhi said due to the resulting state of emergency, government had had to reconsider its plans such as attending the Francistown/Nata highway before the roads that had previously been earmarked to be developed.

The decision, Mr Molefhi said, was reached after realising that, delaying the maintenance and rehabilitation of the Francistown/Nata road would result in the escalation of the costs of undertaking the project in the future. The minister implored the residents to understand the decision to postpone the paving of their road not to mean that theirs was of no significance.

“We are not backing down on our promise regarding the development of the Gulubane road; the fact is that if we do not move swiftly and do something about the Nata/Francistown road, the cost of maintaining it will without doubt skyrocket,” he said.

Mr Molefhi said in the meantime, the Gulubane road and others in a similar state would be graded to keep them in a usable state. He said 21 graders had been bought recently and hoped that though not enough, they would greatly help in the maintenance of roads throughout the country.

The minister also urged Gulubane residents to understand that government had always worked hard to maintain the equality of all Batswana as espoused in the country’s constitution.

He described as false allegations of non-equitable distribution of resources that some people had raised, saying there had not at any point been acts of tribalism in the allocation of resources and developments.

One of the residents, Mr Mothusi Nkhwa had criticised government for what he termed lack of equity in the distribution of projects, alleging that the southern part of the country had been enjoying more developments in comparison with the north.

Another resident, Mr Kenneth Nkhwa accused government of neglecting people in some parts of the country, saying government had developed a culture of failing to keep its promises.

Another resident, Mr Letsweletse Tirelo pleaded with government to gravel the village’s link road and ensure that it was properly maintained.

He also requested that the paving of the Gulubane road be included in the maintenance of the Francistown/Nata highway. Ends