E7M NEW BUS RANK, E50M ROAD REHAB FOR MBABANE

MBABANE – The Municipal Council of Mbabane has announced a new bus rank project worth E7 million in a bid to ease congestion at the current terminal.

The new bus rank will be constructed in the open space next to the Central Transportation Authority (CTA) and will act as a parking bay for all kombis and taxes. Director of Technical Services Muzikayise Masina informed the media that the municipality was pleased to announce the project since the current terminal was already getting congested. Masina said the council had already started the process of rehabilitating the plot to be used by the public transport operators. He said the current bus rank would be an offloading and boarding zone.

“Currently public transport operators register first before being included into the daily roster and it will be the same thing at the CTA satellite bus rank where they will go to the bus rank according to that schedule. ‘‘The CTA area will be a satellite bus rank that will act as a parking bay to reduce the congestion of the current rank,” said Masina. He added that the satellite bus rank would accommodate 80 kombis and 20 buses. He emphasised that vehicles would be parked and then released to load their commuters according to the routines which were currently used to control commuter transportation.

Disclosed

Masina further disclosed that the development of the bus rank would include the lighting, drainage systems and the surfacing of the area. He said the storm drainage systems were a work in progress as they raced against time since the rainy season had arrived. He declared that the plan for the holding area bus rank also included an area which would accommodate informal traders as they developed the city. He said some of the projects being undertaken by the municipality included the upgrading of footpaths and bridges in order to withstand storms. He mentioned that they were looking at spending E2.5 million on Siphetfo Bridge from Thembelihle to Sidwashini and other bridges which were almost complete. He said the bridges were part of the council’s initiative to improve the drainage systems of the town.

Problematic

Masina disclosed that the municipality had invested almost E50 million on two problematic road infrastructures of the town. He said at Somhlolo road, a stretch of 3.2km was being upgraded and would take about eight months to complete. He said the upgrading of the road included adding lanes in some areas as they were developed from being residential to commercial road infrastructures. Masina added that some of the upgrades would also include sidewalks, which were aimed at assisting Mbabane residents in many ways, one of them being  jogging. He said the road infrastructure would also get a boost of a state-of-the-art street lighting to accommodate the trendsetting vision of the city.

Inclusive

Masina further  said there would be an addition of inclusive pedestrian traffic pathways, which would accommodate people living with disability.
“As we all know that the Municipal Council of Mbabane was a pioneer in the element of infrastructure development, we are looking at a design that will include and also cater for people living with disability. The visibility within the town is already there for everyone to see with regard to the block pathways that are designed as a guide for people with visual impairment. Mbabane takes the issue of creating employment opportunities very serious hence some of the nonprofessional jobs are always earmarked to be given to Mbabane residents,” he said.

Masina further disclosed that there were projects that were undertaken by the municipality such as a new road for easing traffic next to the Superspa. He said the road infrastructure which was temporally opened proved to ease the traffic as people were using it instead of following the route closer to the Total Gardens Filling Station.   

Utilised

Environmentalist Zinhle Mamba also said the landfill was being utilised by 110 food businesses, for recycling food waste and residents were empowered for the recycling process at home. She said they also sold recycled compost at a cost of E250 per ton. Mamba added that even residents of Mahwalala were benefiting from recycling some of the staff that was brought into the landfill. She said the landfill had a life span of about 20 to 25 years and one of its cells had done its time. She further disclosed that there were interventions that were employed for recycling which had resulted in a decline in the numbers of waste in the landfill. She said they were looking at funding for the new landfill which was already designed and would cost E42 million but due to inflation was now at E52 million. The current landfill has about two years before becoming decommissioned.

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