- Gumare –Mohembo road maintenance starts in November
- The over P200 million project to take less than 2 years
- Tender come as a relief to communities and road users
- PRO says the road is one of the ministry’s priority projects
The ministry of transport and public works has finally awarded the tender for the maintenance of the deplorable A35 Gumare – Mohembo road. The announcement of the tender has come as a relief to communities and road users who have been to the bad road over the years.
The ministry’s Public Relations Officer Doreen Motshegwa has revealed that the maintenance works which is scheduled to take less than 2 years is expected to commence in November 2022.
Under the tender, Bango Trading has been awarded the 70 km Gumare to Sepopa stretch at the tune of P110 594 150.68 for the procurement of shoulder reinstatement and asphalt overlay while Rockefeller was awarded the 70km Sepopa-Mohembo road at a tune of P97 368 969.73 for total maintenance, shoulder repairs, asphalt overlay, new bus stops and road signs.
In an interview, Motshegwa said they currently in a 10-day cooling-off period which is expected to elapse before the beginning of October, adding that the next stage will commence- that of debriefing, signing of contracts and payment of performance bonds after which contractors will be expected to start works.
“Commencement date is planned for mid-November this year and the projects are expected to be completed in less than two years,” she noted.
Motshegwa indicated that the ministry is fully behind the project and they will supervise the entire works from start to finish adding that road is one of the ministry’s priority projects in the country.
She added that minister Eric Molale has ordered for the project to be carried within time and budget therefore she is optimistic that the Okavango project will be completed within the stipulated time and with desired quality.
“The minister was at the Okavango area and he had inspected the road and we know as a ministry how bad it is therefore, we are aware of the situation and condition of the road,” she said.
Okavango Sub Council Chairperson Lesedi Boy also confirmed that the tender for the Gumare-Mohembo road has been indeed awarded and that they will be waiting to see how it turns out as they expect the road to be done as soon as possible.
Boy said the news came as a relief to them as they have been waiting to hear such from government for a long time now and as Okavango residents, they are happy about the scheduled development.
“Many lives have been lost in this road, the delays to maintain it has also affected some businesses especially those in the transport sector because people spend a lot of money fixing their vehicles because of the poor road,” he lamented.
He noted that most buses operators who do business in Okavango using the Sehitlwa-Mohembo road have decided to use old buses because of the state of the road.
Boy added that during rainy season, the road becomes worse and many vehicles including ambulances carrying patients get stuck in it.
