P2m needed to fix Mahalapye bus rank
Mahalapye Sub District Council Chairman Banthasetse Merementsi says the Mahalapye bus rank will need around P2 million to cater for other bus bays which were not included in the initial tender. The bus rank started showing signs of defects immediately after it was opened for use by the public last year December. The defects were realised at both Bus Bay 3 and 4. The council then decided to close them for maintenance work estimated at over P1 million.
Merementsi told a full council meeting this week that the contractor doing the additional works valued at P1, 325 672.37 started on June 6, 2022. The works are at 40 percent actual against the planned 35 percent. “These works are for Bay 3 and 4 but there has since been a realisation that Bay 1 and 2 need attention as well, as there are visible signs of structural failure,” Merementsi told Council. He said that in order to deliver a good product council has decided to attend to all areas that need attention. He explained that a layer of black cotton soil was discovered underneath Bays 3 and 4 and excavation of this soil was completed on the 27th of July 2022 at a depth of approximately 750m. “This large volume of excavated unwanted material needs to be replaced with selected G5 material imported from Leropong approximately 18km from Mahalapye,” he said. Merementsi added that the required work to cover the works in all bays is estimated at P2 million. Currently, the contractor is backfilling both Bay 3 and 4 with G5 material and also testing the layers after every 150mm, he said. The council chairman indicated that for Bays 1 and 2 all the existing interlocking bricks have been removed. The total expenditure to date is P421 300. Regarding the funding of internal roads, Merementsi told councillors that annual road maintenance activities in the sub District require a minimum amount of P15 million.
“However in our case, our road network needs major rehabilitation and maintenance which requires more funds.” He stated that for this financial year, the roads maintenance vote was allocated P100, 000 for the entire district, which he said was “as little as nothing” considering the damages that were done to roads.
He said the maintenance required for roads includes asphalt overlay, resealing, drainage construction, grading, and graveling of some earth roads.