SHAMEFUL HIGHWAY IN ESWATINI

mfanukhona@times.co.sz

MBABANE – It is a sorry sight.  That is exactly what the Bhunya-Sandlane Highway looks like. In fact, there is a saying that ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions’, meaning good intentions do not matter if a person’s actions lead to bad outcome. A stretch of seven kilometres of the 32-kilometre MR19 road is a majestic highway in the same infrastructural standard of the tarred highway leading to King Mswati III International Airport in Sikhuphe, east of Eswatini.   

Travelling on the tarred part of the MR19 is an awesome and refreshing experience that makes one think that Eswatini is actually close to attaining first world status.
Wait a minute! There is danger ahead. The above mentioned idiom puts it correct that the road to hell is paved with good intentions as the magnificently tarred portion of the road leads to disaster. It leads to tyre-damaging potholes as the remainder of the road equalling a distance of 25 kilometres is a total disaster.

For sure, it is riddled with water-filled potholes that could quench the thirst of a cow. Government had initially planned to remove the old tar from Bhunya to the Sandlane Border Post and replace it with new tar. This did not happen as the available budget was exhausted on the refurbishment of the seven-kilometre portion of the road.  It must be said that the road begins from Montigny Sawmill, formerly Sappi Usuthu, to the border post.
The project tender was awarded to Kukhanya Civil Engineering five years ago. The same contractor was also awarded a tender to construct the 41-kilometre Sandlane-Sicunusa road, which is yet to be completed. MP Musa Kunene asked His Majesty the King to facilitate an investigation into the circumstances that caused the delay in completing the Sandlane-Sicunusa road.

Back to the MR19 road, a sum of about E30 million was reportedly set aside for this capital project. It was not established if the whole amount of money was spent on the seven-kilometre portion of the MR19.
This newspaper reported three years ago that tourists and residents were complaining about this road. It was ascertained that government did not complete the rehabilitation of the entire MR19 road because of financial constraints. Sandlane Border Post is where the MR19 ends.

The border post connects Eswatini with Amsterdam in South Africa. On Thursday, I observed that the road was tarred in an extraordinary fashion. It was never tarred from its original point at Montigny Sawmill in Bhunya. Instead, the project began five kilometres from the starting point. This is despite the fact that the road is bad from the starting point to where the paving started. 

From majestic to potholes
One kombi driver, Senzo Hlophe (23) remarked in an interview: “Just after you have enjoyed the luxury of travelling on the rehabilitated portion of the road, which to me is a first class road, you come across six huge potholes.”
Former Minister of Finance Martin Dlamini indicated in one of his budget speeches that the MR 19 road was one of the roads, which government should have completed. Former Mangcongco MP Patrick Motsa lamented the fact that the ministry tarred seven kilometres of the road.

He said it was a pity that there was no allocation of money for the road despite the fact that the minister of Finance talked about it when he delivered his budget speech two years ago.
Motsa said he tried to push the ministry to continue with the road, adding that he was assured that the project would be included in the 2017/2018 budget. It was not included. He said it was his wish that the whole road be rehabilitated. He suggested that government should use the tar called pro-base to pave the Sandlane-Tsawela road and also upgrade the Tinyonini-Mabhukwini and Mpuluzi road.
Residents said the road was so bad that tourists complained about it.

They said tourists who entered the country through the Sandlana Border Post usually did not return to South Africa through the same post. This, they said, was due to the bad state of the road. They did not understand why government did not mobilise sufficient money to rehabilitate the road from its origin to the last point.
Samkelisiwe Dlamini (37) said it was vital to put new tar on the road in order to improve the tourism industry. Dlamini, a market vendor, said some tourists told them they would not return to the place because the potholes damaged their vehicles. “I am not talking about small potholes, but big ones, and you can see them on the road, they are everywhere,” she said.

Public transport nightmare
Kholiwe Mabuza (24) urged governme

nt to allocate some money for the rehabilitation of MR19 Road in the 2019/2020 budget. She said public transport was not enough because of the same situation. She explained that a minibus departed Sandlane for Mbabane at 7am and returned at 6pm on the same day. She mentioned that it was the same case with the minibus, which serviced the Manzini-Sandlane route. 
Futhi Dlamini (28) shared the same views with Mabuza and Dlamini.

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