Nthatuoa Koeshe

THE Ministry of Public Works is taking advantage of the reduced traffic during the ongoing lockdown to repair several roads in Maseru.

In a recent interview with the Sunday Express, the ministry’s principal secretary, Mothabathe Hlalele, said they had set aside M17 million to repair major roads in the capital including the Moshoeshoe Road, Kingsway, the Kofi Annan Road up to Masianokeng, the Main South 1 Road to Masianokeng, the Main North 1 Road to Ha-Foso and the Old Maseru Road from Mookoli to Naleli.

Mr Hlalele said they were working with three construction companies, namely, Thadleson Construction Company, Condo Construction Company and Rudicon Construction Company to fix the roads. He said all three companies were owned by locals and had been chosen through a system of balloting.

“Since the country is on lockdown, we thought this would be an ideal time to start fixing our roads which have potholes and faded road markings,” Mr Hlalele said.

“We have already started work and we hope to complete the task during the two-week extension of the lockdown.” The lockdown is aimed at preventing the possible spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). It began on 30 March 2020 and was initially supposed to end on 21 April before it was extended to 5 May 2020 by Prime Minister Thomas Thabane.

Mr Hlalele said they also intended to resume work on tarring the Marakabei-Monontša road which had been suspended during the lockdown. He said it was necessary to complete the project because suspending it only meant the government would incur additional costs paying contractors even though they were idle during the lockdown.

He also said the contractors were observing World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines on physical distancing of construction workers to prevent the potential spread of COVID-19.