Spokesperson, Qondile Khedama, tells OFM News the city is currently in the process of improving road infrastructure and rehabilitating trunk routes such as Moshoeshoe and Harvey Road. Responding to OFM News’ questions on concerns raised by members of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Transport last year on the quality of the metro’s road infrastructure, Khedama referred to a number of road infrastructure projects in the pipeline as an indication that work is being carried out to improve the quality of the metro’s roads. He elaborates on the projects, stating that contractors have been appointed for Moshoeshoe Road which is along the townships of Bochabela and Rocklands. He says it’s not only the roads that are currently being worked on, there is also the construction of non-motorised transport side-walks (NMT) that must comply in terms of Universal Access.

The municipality says Glad Africa & LTE was appointed as the service provider in the project around 2015. The company also listed Mangaung’s Integrated Public Transport Network (IPTN) as one of its projects on its website in 2016. The company which has offices across the country is responsible for the design and implementation of the project at a cost of around R5 billion.

Mangaung Metro did not specify how much money was allocated to the municipality by the National Department of Transport (NDoT) for the project, but did acknowledge that funds have been received for the project. OFM News has reliably learned that R48 million was allocated to the municipality in March of 2016, but this allocation was not included in the 2015/16 budget, because the transfer occurred after the budget adjustment. As already mentioned, the Metro did not specify the allocation of funds, nor mention when did it receive the funds.

OFM News