- Govt confirms bad state of highway
- 1 085 accidents have since occurred
SESUPO RANTSIMAKO
Almost six years later, Cyclone Dineo’s trail of destruction left by Cyclone Dineo along the A3 Highway remains unattended and 1 085 road accidents have occurred on it over the past five years, The Botswana Gazette has established.
The highway joins Francistown to the resort town of Maun nearly 500 kilometres away to the northwest.
Bad state
The Minister of Transport, Eric Molale, confirmed in Parliament on Monday that some sections of the highway are in a bad state.
He was responding to a question raised by the MP for Serowe South, Leepetswe Lesedi.
These sections the include Francistown-Nata, Nata-Gweta, Gweta-Phuduhudu and Maun-Toteng segments of the road. “I am aware of the recurring potholes along sections of the A3 road that are in a bad state,” Minister Molale said.
“My ministry is continuously executing routine pothole patching, especially during and after the rain season when potholes along these roads predominantly develop.”
The minister disclosed that 1 085 car accidents involving 736 people occurred on the highway over the last five years but did not make a direct link between the accident and the deplorable state of the road.
94 lives lost
According to the Minister, 94 of the 736 people in the accidents lost their lives, 241 sustained serious injuries while 401 of them survived with minor injuries.
To address the bad state of the road, Molale said his ministry is currently carrying out routine maintenance work, mainly patching potholes, repairing the edge and grading where the surface layer has disintegrated.
He stated that the government intends to reconstruct the damaged sections of A3 during the Transitional Development Plan.
In 2018, the Nata/Gweta territory, which took the brunt of the destruction caused by Cyclone Dineo, was declared a disaster-prone area after a motion tabled by the MP for Nata/Gweta Polson Majaga to that effect.
Goods and services
The MP underscored how the destruction had affected movement of people and critical goods and services, including health, education and sanitation services.
Molale was responding to a Parliamentary question posed by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Serowe South Leepetswe Lesedi,