“Improving road connectivity is a priority for the government” – Moteane

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Minister of Public Works and Transport Majato Motieng said he has dedicated his life to implementing an ambitious plan to build a network of roads connecting the country’s highland regions and districts to facilitate travel and boost tourism.

He said his department, with the unwavering support of Prime Minister Sam Matcaione, had achieved much, from a rapid response campaign for upgrading gravel roads across Lesotho to rebuilding eroded bridges and upgrading urban tarmac roads.

In acceptinglesotho times Mr Motine said at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport headquarters that the Lesotho Highlands must be connected through a network of smooth tarmac roads to boost tourism and ease travel. He said this further reflected the requirement of the extended National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) II to connect the country’s regions.

Below are excerpts from the interviewlesotho times Political reporter, Mpesi Harvester:

Left:Thank you very much for the invitation. Since the beginning of 2024 till now, the public has seen the government working hard to repair roads not only in Maseru but also in other areas. Please explain this initiative for us and tell us which roads have been covered and which roads will be covered as the activities continue.

Motani:We have 6,000 km of roads that need repair, upgrading or maintenance. Of these, about 2,000 km are tarmac roads and 4,000 km are gravel roads. The biggest costs come from tarmac roads, both in building new roads and maintaining existing ones.

We are trying to build a road every five years. This is a new target. If we build a road from Masache to Tato-Pelli this year, we will have it finished in five years. This means we have to build about 800 kilometers of gravel roads every year.

Sealed roads do not require a lot of maintenance. We need to repair about 200 km of road every year and then repair it after 10 years.

We are much better on tarmac roads than on gravel roads. We are currently working on a 30km section from Malesaona, Leribe to Butha-Bute. We are also working on the section from Malakabe to Monota, which is about 70km. There is also the Mpiti-Serabatbe road (now Makhaola Lerotholi) in Kachasnek, which is about 91km.

Left:What about city roads?

Motani:We will rehabilitate about 50 kilometres of roads within the city, Maseru to be exact. We will rehabilitate the road from the main ring road to the Lesotho Tractor Factory to Masyanokeng and then from Masyanokeng to Roma.

This year we will complete about 200 kilometers of roads. We have already developed a strategy for next year. Next year we will rehabilitate the southern part of the country.

Roads are repaired regularly. But what we do is road reinforcement. The road we repair has large layers. It is time to build such large layers because the road we have now is old and broken.

We will travel 200 km in the southern region until we reach Ha-Mosi and then head to Qacha’s Nek.

We are slowly repairing the gravel roads. I think we will repair about 200 to 300 kilometers. We have to speed up. We usually repair the roads ourselves as a government department or hire small contractors.

We tried it out in Masache, where we purchased machinery after Operation Rapid Response restarted, with the focus on upgrading the gravel road to the standard we wanted.

We will build about 80 kilometers of gravel road in one section. This means we need to add more sections. We have applied to the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning and we are only building one section at the moment. In the future we will add three or four sections.

Left: But most roads in Lesotho need bridges. What plans are there to build bridges?

Motani:Thank you for asking this question. Some roads are impassable because heavy rains have flooded bridges, such as the Koro-Koro Bridge.

Building a new bridge takes time and is expensive. The community is still inconvenienced and we are still looking for funding. So we are implementing the prefabricated bridge program as a temporary solution.

When we have enough money to build permanent bridges, we will remove them and put them where bridges are really needed.

We will install a new bridge that we just bought over the Koro-Koro River in the next two months. We are going to remove another bridge from Tsoelikana to a river called Lijabatho at Milikane in Qacha’s Nek.

Left: You said that former Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili undertook the bulk of the Highlands Road construction, while predecessors including Sam Mateken only undertook a small portion. Can the remaining portion be completed by the end of this government?

Motani:Yes, it is possible. I hope we can do it. We will try our best. The remaining roads that need to be built under the National Sustainable Development Project (NSDP II) include Hamakunyapane from Serabathebe to Thaba-Chekca. This will make it a good tourist route, especially because we will build another road from Thaba-Chekca to Mokhotlong.

The Makhaola Lerotholi road to Sehlabathebe National Park will be extended as it is from the national park to Ha-Makunyapane, Thaba-Tseka. I must try to do this.

In addition, we will build a road from Matben in Gachasnek to Hamakunyapane.

We are already raising funds for the construction of the 96km road from Thaba-Tseka to Mokhotlong. We hope that when the Prime Minister visits China, we will get the financial assistance we need. I am confident that this project will be completed. It will cost about RM1.8 billion. It will be a good quality road like Sehlabathebe (Makhaola Lerotholi Expressway).

In this way, we have completed the connection of all the main routes, thus being able to connect all regions.

Funding for the construction of a 51-kilometre tarmac road from Katse to Thaba-Tseka has been signed.

We need to connect Mohaleshoek with Tsoin and Maseru, bypassing Mafeteng. These are secondary roads that we have to build.

There is also a vital road that needs to be built because the lack of it kills tourism. Imagine if you could see both the Mohale Dam and the Malechunyane Falls in one trip!

To improve tourism, we have to build a road from Ha-Seiboko in Malakabe to Ha-Sello. We are now trying to focus on building roads that will better connect the country.

There has long been an idea to build a road from Phamong to Semonkong, a short way. This means that when you are in Quthing, you can easily reach Semonkong. I hope Ntate Matekane will allow us to take the plunge and make these ideas a reality.

Left:Will we see roads being repaired in towns and cities across the country?

Motani:Yes, these roads are supposed to be maintained by the road fund. So, the road fund gives us money. It’s just that over time, they don’t give enough money.

Any national highway that passes through a town should be free of potholes. Yes, all roads in Teyateyaneng, Mafeteng Mohale’s Hoek and other areas should be repaired within the next three years.

The problem is that some roads are already damaged because small holes that could have been filled will become big holes if they are not repaired.

The problem with Lesotho’s roads, especially the A1 North, is traffic congestion. We need to address this. We are in talks with the new director of the Road Fund to build at least three toll gates between Mapusoe and Maseru, bypassing Ty.

We also need a toll road from Maseru to the airport. A completely new road. We are not sure if there is enough traffic from Mafeteng to Maseru. At the end of this year we will ask the people who developed the toll gates to submit expressions of interest to build them and you will see that then.

We are already doing a study on toll booths. We are revisiting the feasibility of charging tolls on certain roads in Lesotho. This was done a long time ago. We are just revising it.

You can set up toll booths from Ty to Maseru and pay the fee midway. The previous study should be updated so that we can decide whether setting up toll booths is effective.

So, investors will collect money from toll booths. The government alone cannot solve these problems. We have to play the role of the government and leave the rest of the problems to the private sector.

Left:What is the budget for all roads, big and small?

Motani:Last year we had RM1.4 billion and this year it is the same amount. The problem last year was that we did not use up all the budget.

This year, we hope that by November, we will be close to completing the 1.4 billion. It is a lot of work. Fortunately, this year we started early. I am still unhappy about the delay in the repair work on the road at the National University of Lesotho (NUL).

Left:I wonder if you have had a chance to look at the government audit report for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022, which covers the use of donor loans. The report states that the Ministry of Public Works and Transport used only 54% of the development loan during that fiscal period. What happened and why did you not use the money for its intended purpose?

Motani:There is a project called the Transport Interconnection Program (TICP), which involves building pedestrian bridges and other roads and improving systems, including vehicle registration. It is a slow process.

But, after the project was over, the funding ran out. So, we did some work on that. I’m glad I don’t have to explain anything more than that, because I found that to be the case.

The same World Bank will tell you that TICP is the best performing of all the programs being implemented. We tried, but I don’t know why. I wasn’t there, so I don’t want to deceive the public.

I will be getting some money, a grant, from the World Bank, and we’ll see how much I’ll have used by the end of this fiscal year.

We have agreed with the World Bank on funding. I think we will start implementing two projects in November. We will start from Thaba-Tseka to Katse and from Thaba-Tseka to Mokhotlong.

Small roads are funded by the government, while some of the larger roads are funded by Lesotho’s development partners.