Corruption delayed Mogoditshane-Gabane road construction - Rakgare
The construction of the Mogoditshane-Gabane-Mankgodi junction Road was delayed due to corrupt activities attracted at the tender stage of the project, Member of Parliament for Mogoditshane, Tumiso Rakgare has told constituents.
Rakgare, who is also Minister of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture, stated this week that the road has been in the pipeline for about 10 years and nothing has happened. He said even though government is trying to root out corruption, the project which is popularly known as P3 Corridor - Pula Spar- Sengaparile has been a headache.
“We all know that there is corruption and there are those who are vultures who are waiting to dip their fingers on certain projects. This road has close to 10 years being discussed. Many things have been happening with regards to this tender. At one point the tender is cancelled thereafter another thing happens when the project is to commence.
“We are however hopeful that since the project has now been moved to the Transitional National Development Plan, it will finally be done. There is little I could do in this matter, my hands were tied,” said Rakgare, who revealed that the funds are available for the project to be done.
The legislator who was addressing his constituents in a series of Kgotla meetings on the just-ended parliament session, said there seems to have been some misgivings on the tender as it was revealed that contractors with dubious documents wanted to have their fair share of the pie through corrupt means.
He pointed out that even though the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) has been under fire for having played a part in the delay of the project, what they did was for the benefit of the country and ensured that Batswana are not cheated.
According to Rakgare, the DIS will be doing thorough investigations on such matters because they would have picked what other government officials would have missed out in their assessments.
He told Mogoditshane residents that the call for the upgrading of this road to a dual carriageway has long been proposed even during the times of former area MP, Mokgweetsi Kgosipula.
“When I arrived here in Mogoditshane as your MP nothing much had been done to develop this area, nothing! But, as the minister I could not be robust in demanding for this road and other projects because we have limitations as how we speak as cabinet members.
“This is because we are government and whatever that is not done accordingly, I am part of that. As a minister you cannot speak like ordinary MPs do. It is also important to humble yourself and not always be on the attacking mode just because you want developments in your area,” the minister told a meeting at Mogoditshane main kgotla on Monday this week.
The controversial 27KM Mogoditshane- Gabane- Mankgodi Junction Road project was expected to undergo construction early last year. The tender was first cancelled by the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) and was once again last year cancelled by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Public Works.
Roads Department Director Motsayalere Basuti told the Kweneng District Full Council meeting in December 2022 that their initial preferred bidder had quoted an amount that they did not have as the Ministry. He said there has been back and forth until the new Act (Public Procurement Act) came into effect this year.
“I know we have for long discussed this project. When it was to start there was an issue of funds and cancellation. The Ministry of Finance indicated that they do not have enough funds and can only avail funds we requested for design. So, the finance ministry asked us to come with ways of finding funds.
“The ministry had only availed the P1.4 billion we requested. There was a delay due to back and forth. The PS on the 5th December 2022 took a decision to cancel the tender. We are not cancelling the project but the tender which started around 2018/19. The project is expected to be catered for under Transitional Development Plan. The matter is still to be discussed by Parliament,” the Director said.
The CONSTRUCTION OF PULA SPAR MOGODITSHANE- GABANE -MMANKGODI TENDER NUMBER WOR 7/17/9(1) was initially budgeted for P1.4 billion as per the Project Engineer’s estimates at the time of Tender Closing on April 24th 2019. It was later discovered that the budget for the Dual Lining Road (dual carriage) has now been increased to P1.7 billion.
According to information seen by this publication, Pula Consulting which was appointed as lead Consultants, did evaluation and recommended as follows: CC/SS JV 96.5 percent; MGM JV TIEC/CRIG 83.5 percent; CRSG-RAUBEX JV 82.6 percent; CCECC-LM-ZT JV 81.7 percent; and CFHEC and COLIC JV 79.8 percent.
The PPADB approved this recommendation on the 17th February 2021. It then emerged that the tender was awarded Consolidated Construction Company Stefannuti Stocks Joint Venture (CCC/SS JV).