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MBABANE – Government has spent over E300 million on the rehabilitation of roads in the country, which started in December 2021.
The reconstruction of the roads is still ongoing and is expected to be completed by the end of September 2022, with the weather permitting.
Roads which were prioritised included the rehabilitation of MR19 and pothole patching, Makholokholo, Mafutha , Lusekwaneni, Nkomazi and Malanti, Lubhuku River crossing and ECOT road failures among others.
Rehabilitation
According to the Senior Roads Engineer in the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Menzi Mbingo, the scope of works on the MR19 entailed the rehabilitation of failed sections of the road near the EEC Headquarters, Mvakwelitje and Nkwalini.
Mbingo said the scope further entailed the rehabilitation of the failed road section at Sigulaneni and construction of a retaining wall to prevent future landslides. He said the progress of the rehabilitation was at 95 per cent.
The senior roads engineer further noted the rehabilitation of Makholokholo road failure scope of works entailed the re-construction of the cut failure at Makholokholo and asphalt overlay of the Mbabane and Ngwenya bound traffic lanes of the highway, from the Makholokholo interchange to Sidwashini, which were currently at 45 per cent.
Meanwhile, he stated that the rehabilitation of Mafutha Road failure scope of work entailed the rehabilitation of a fill failure at the Mafutha area, along the Ngwenya – Manzini Highway.
Patching
He added that the scope further included the pothole patching and rehabilitation of failed sections of the highway from Ngwenya to Manzini. The scope also included the completion of the concrete barriers from the Matsapha Flyover to the Mfabantfu Pedestrian Bridge.
The rehabilitation process is currently at 65 per cent.
On another hand, the rehabilitation of Maguga Road failure scope entailed the re-construction of the road failure along the MR32 (Mnyokane – Peak Timbers) road, at Maguga. The scope included the replacement of the Armco culvert that had outlived its design live with a concrete portal culverts and surfacing of the affected road above.