M5 million for storm-damaged roads

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KHOLU NTELE

MASERU – The current spate of heavy rains has wreaked havoc on the current’s already fragile roads infrastructure. The Roads Directorate has therefore released a statement today about how the recent rains have left many of parts of Lesotho impassable.

The crisis is particularly apparent in rural areas where some places have become inaccessible due to landslides, rock falls, and damaged drainage systems causing flooding on some roads and bridges. To aggravate the situation, in some cases alternative routes are non-existent.

The Roads Directorate said emergency works will be set in motion to patch-up various road sections that have been damaged, further disclosing that up to M5 million maloti from the Contingency Fund of GoL and the Road Fund Budget had been budgeted for the emergency.

The scope of works includes, among others, removal of rock falls and debris to open the roadways, erosion protection works, pothole repairs and patching, culvert repairs and reinstatement, restoration of washed away embankments, protection of eroded road sections, as well as unclogging of drainage structures.

Some of the road sections where repair works have been completed include; the Liphiring collapsed mini-bridge diversion, Matelile landscape removal, and Makhalaneng debris removal. Work has also commenced in the following places: the A1 Road near Marakabei Lodge, Matlameng to Nkoeng, A8 Road between Pitseng and Katse, Marabeng Tsereoane, Ramapepe, A3 Road between Masianokeng up to Mants’onyane, A5 Road between Roma to Semonkong, A4 Road between Quthing and Mount Moorosi, and B501 Road between Nyakosoba and Mofoqohi to name a few.

The directorate has advised road users to refrain from crossing flooded roads and use alternative routes where possible.

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