Public Works to account to North West Provincial Legislature on the Koster - Lichtenburg road issue

On Friday, March 2, at 8h00 the North West Provincial Legislature Portfolio Committee on Public Works, Roads and Transport will meet with the Acting Head of Department for Public Works, Roads and Transport, together with the owner of the construction company, Down Touch Investments and representatives of affected stakeholders of the Koster - Lichtenburg road to discuss a way forward on the matter.

Construction on this road has been put on hold by the Premier, after it emerged that the tender for the construction of this road has been a subject of court litigation between Globul Roads and Down Touch Investment Pty Ltd with allegations of irregularity in the bid process being levelled against the provincial department of Public Works, Roads and Transport.

The meeting is a follow up after the committee conducted an oversight visit to the site to check progress on the road and found that the department had put the project on hold without receiving a court interdict stopping the contractor from continuing with his work.

They also found a lot of complaints from community members residing between the two towns, taxi drivers and farmers; ranging from the inconvenience of the road construction, loss of income, accidents, and pothole damages to vehicles.

The Portfolio Committee will meet with all parties involved and ask the department to make a clear undertaking as to when the road will be constructed and also for the Portfolio Committee to make recommendations as to what must happen, moving forward.

By inviting some affected stakeholders to make presentations at the meeting, the Portfolio Committee wants the department to see the seriousness of this situation and how it affects people residing in that area.

Hon. Galeng, told the department’s Acting Chief Director, Mr Mafune that the department needs to brief the Portfolio Committee as to why they stopped construction on that road as there was no court order pertaining to that.

“You have no right to stop this project as you do not have proper documentation from the court to give you authority to do that, you are also wasting the state’s money by paying the contractor money for no value, because either way you are going to pay him whether he does the work or not.

“Poor people are suffering for no apparent reason,” said Hon. Galeng.

Members of the media are invited to attend. Please contact Namhla on 079 527 0628 to RSVP.