A six kilometres portion of the Vryburg road from Mahikeng to Mogogoe is opened for traffic while construction work resumed in earnest this week, to complete the remainder of the work on Ngaka Modiri Molema road.
These are among five road projects undertaken by the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport, as contribution towards the revitalisation of the provincial capital.
On the flip side, the projects created approximately 250 job opportunities for the locals over and above the 500 others "The Orange Brigade" contracted separately by the department to help keep Mahikeng clean at least for 12 months.
Work commission on the road projects for the town's revitalisation include: patchwork, rehabilitation and reseal, roads marking and replacement of road signs where necessary.
Spokesperson for the department, Matshube Mfoloe, told the media briefing that phase one of the five road projects was on average 60 percent complete.
He said the target day for completion of the portion of the Vryburg road from Mahikeng was 31 August which he said confirmed earlier assertions that the projects was indeed two months ahead of schedule.
Mfoloe said the contractor, M Civil (Pty) Ltd and IDB Joint Venture, were currently working on "a snag list’" given by the engineers.
"The remainder of the work is so minor it will not disrupt traffic flow on that road. We are yet to opened the road officially, but it makes business sense to open it to traffic at this stage to avert the congestion and inconvenience if we keep it closed,’’ he said.
Mfoloe also dismissed as "uninformed" suggestions that the contractor had abandoned site on the unfinished works on Ngaka Modiri Molema road. He said construction work resumed this week to finish the remainder of the work "which is only about 450m."
"What many people chose to ignore in spite of repeated explanation is, that section of the road was found to be underlined by clay material posed a serious challenge,’’ Mfoloe said.
This was after laboratory tests were done on the material.
He said the contractor was required to do major excavations to remove a layer of clay which was indeed done.
"The other challenge was, the material required to make the excavated portion more compact had to be brought in from somewhere and nearest source of suitable material was in Klerksdorp,’’ said Mfoloe.
He expressed optimism, Ngaka Modiri Molema road, which he said created 15 job opportunities, would also be completed by 15 August.
Turning to other road revitalisation projects in the seat of the provincial government, Mfoloe said limited supply of the road construction material called Asphalt was posing a serious challenge for contractors.
"We are not alone in this. The suppliers of the product can only supply limited quantities due to high demands from other road projects elsewhere in the country. That partly explains slow progress on Moshoeshoe road which we hope will be completed by October 2011," said Mfoloe.
Meanwhile, the other recycling and total rehabilitation of two other road projects: Joe Slovo and Onkgopotse Tiro respectively are also said to be on schedule and the anticipated completion date is October 2011.
Source: North West Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport
