Deputy Prime Minister, Justice Nthomeng Majara on Monday, officiated the sod turning of a 23-kilometre road at Ha Nqheku in the Machache Constituency N0.43.
The 23-gravel road stretches from Baleming Ha Nqheku in the Maseru district to Thota-Peli in the Berea district and it is estimated to cost the Government of Lesotho the tune of M13, 400.000
Speaking at the ceremony, Justice Majara said the gravel road will be upgraded from its present to a higher level which will ease movement from several villages lying alongside the road.
She said the villages whose residents will benefit from the road are Ha Nqheku, Ha Mosuoe, Ha Seoehlana, Ha Rankota, Ha Mapale, Ha Maimane and Ha Masupha among others.
“This gravel road construction will be funded by the Government of Lesotho through the Road Directorate to slightly over M13,400,000,” she highlighted.
The DPM said some of the works that will be done on the road during the upgrading will include, digging, levelling and laying the quarry, construction of culverts and gabions filled with stones to protect it on either side as well as construction of small bridges and farrows for water drainage.
She said the road construction is expected to take eight months to be complete, saying the deadline is September 30 for the whole upgrading work to be fully complete.
Justice Majara explained that people from the villages alongside the road will get temporary jobs, saying for the first month only 13 of them will be hired and that the number will increase to 20 who will rotate for the nine months.
She appealed that at least five women be part of the 20 people who will get a temporary job, saying they can do the spade work.
The DPM also appealed to the people of Machache to make sure that they look after the environment in their area by removing dirt in the farrows and keeping the area tidy to attract tourists.
“One of the government’s priorities is to promote tourism in the country as part of economic growth,” she hinted.
The Minister of Public Works and Transport, Mr. Matjato Moteane said the present government promised to improve the lives of the people, saying roads and bridge construction was one such promise.
He therefore said the sod turning of this 23-kilometre gravel road was a fulfilment of that promise since the road will enable the villagers to carry out their activities without any hindrance.
The Minster said Public Works and Transport is officially launching the use of its yellow plant instead of hiring contractors.
However, he said for the Ministry to be able to cover all 80 constituencies, they need the yellow plant sets in for regions of the country thus Central, North and South so that the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) within the Roads Directorate ‘Titima’ will respond to road damages.
A Member of Parliament (MP) for Machache N0. 43, Mr. Motheo Ralitapole said the road construction was one of the mandates that was given to him by the electorate.
He believed that upon its completion, the road would open other development activities in the area.
Mr. Ralitapole said some of the villagers seeking health services at Nazareth had to go through Thaba Bosiu to access the services.
He promised that more services such as clean water supply will follow in the area soon.
Some of the villagers in the area expressed their delight, saying their challenges will be over after the road construction is completed.
They said they were looking forward to being hired during the road construction even though they lamented that it seems that it will be using machinery more than human resources.
Machache is situated in the foothills along the mountain road and the place has many developments such as electrification. Despite the constituency having the Metolong Dam which supplies water to the lowlands areas like Maseru, Roma, Morija and Teyateyang, many villages in the Machache area are still without clean water.
Source: LENA 29/01/2024
