ROADS’ CONSTRUCTION TOO SLOW - LEGISLATORS

MBABANE – Slow! That is one word to describe the conclusion made by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport Portfolio Committee on the process of three road construction projects.

The three roads are the Buka probase, Manzini interchange and Mafutseni Highway. This was during the committee’s tour of the different sites yesterday where construction is ongoing. The committee stated that the projects had taken too long considering that they were still going to run for a year and a half.
The tour started off at the Mbabane bypass probase road which begins at Gobholo through to Lamgabhi and joins the Buka road.

The probase road is constructed by Probase Eswatini PTY Limited. It was given a contract to cover a 200km stretch on different parts of the country. The project started on December 11, 2018 and is expected to be finished in the same month in 2021. It was gathered that the completion of the probase was at 40 per cent. 

Narrowness

While at that site, the committee questioned the rocks near the road and the narrowness, especially starting next to popular hangout spot Solani’s Shisanyama, down to Gobholo.
However, it was revealed that this stretch of road was not overseen by the Ministry of Public Works but was under the municipality.
“Why is the water drainage on one side?” asked Senator Sylvia Mthethwa who is part of the committee.
In response, the General Manager of Probase Eswatini, Chen Sooi Yek, said they wanted to control the water from coming into the road.

Slope

“We saw rain water coming from one slope hence the one side drainage. However, should there be uncontrolled water from the other side, we will correct that during the maintenance period,” he said.

It was established that the same company constructing the road would maintain it for 12 years after completion. The tour then went to Manzini where there will be an interchange from the bypass traffic lights towards Mpandze, which is done by a different construction company.

It was stated that the project would start next month and would take part of the park, which is next to the traffic circle in Manzini.
The interchange project is expected to be completed in 18 months.

Further, the committee then proceeded to Mafutseni where there is a construction of the new highway.
There was later a meeting where the committee members made their submissions and observations to the ministry.

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