Tarred road to link Senwabarwana and surrounding villages
Days of driving on the long D1468 dusty road will come to an end, following the Department of Public Works putting aside R96 million for tarring the road.
LIMPOPO –Â The 9,55km stretch of road connects Senwabarwana, Ga-Matshaba, Avon and Indermark villages.
Speaking during the sod-turning event in Senwabarwana outside Polokwane on Friday, the MEC for Department of Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure, Nandi Ndalane, said the road will be tarred over a period of 18 months.
She said they were happy that the communities of Senwabarwana have been patient.
“As government we are aware that communities no longer accept a lack of budget or financial constraints as a reason for not getting a much needed tar road,” said Ndalane.
She urged the local municipality, community leaders and the community at large to work on the project as a united force.
“Without unity we will encounter problems which may affect the delivery of this project,” she said.
Ndalane told CV they had to point out that as government they knew about the community’s frustrations and their demands.
“Our government is forced to do more with less because all these communities demand that they be prioritised and that their roads must be built tomorrow,” said Ndalane.
She said: “We want you to appreciate the frustrations we face in our effort to deliver quality road infrastructure to all our people and it is our heartfelt desire to provide quality road infrastructure to all our people.”
She said tar roads make the lives of the people a lot better.
“We are aware that tar roads bring economic development to our villages resulting in job opportunities,” she said.
She said she expected the community to work together for the benefit of each other.
“I trust that this project will bring unity in the community and not the opposite,” she said.
Maselaganye Matjie, Chief Executive Officer for Road Agency Limpopo (RAL), said they use such roads projects as a way of creating jobs for unemployed people within the communities.
“Out of R96 million, we have set aside R24 million which will support the SMME’s within the affected areas,” said Matji.
He said they have also set aside R7 million for their all forms of our labourers.
“We have done so because we do not import laboures for our projects and we want our people to benefit from their own road,” he said.
