Well done Roads Directorate!

The condition of roads is the first thing that an investor assesses when considering to make an investment in a country. Roads are like shoes. They make a first and lasting impression. Move over, shoes never lie like the condition of roads in a country or a city. Dirty and worn-out shoes give a negative impression to a person seeking a job or investment. In a similar manner, Lesotho has to be conscious about the condition of its roads in order to make a good and lasting impression to tourists as well. It has however become a daily bread to see an abuse of state assets either by public servants and on extreme cases by politicians. Politicians and public servants seem to suffer from a disease named amnesia because they tend to forget their mandate given by the electorate and the taxpayers. To be blunt, they forget that they are paid and fed by taxpayers. It is disheartening to see public servants blatantly abusing government vehicles every weekend. This constant abuse of state assets creates what we call a trust deficit between the taxpayers and the government. Taxpayers have lost confidence in an institution named government because taxes are abused with impunity. I mean, who in their right mind would work hard, make sacrifices and pay tax only to watch it being abused? No one. This is what our public servants fail to understand. Tax is a very sensitive issue that needs to be handled with care. That is the reason why it is paramount for taxpayers to see their hard-earned taxes being utilised for good use, for instance, to repair roads, to build schools and to build new hospitals. However, there is a very poor culture from government to protect and to take good care of taxpayers’ money as well as to protect state assets such as vehicles. Vehicles are always the first to be abused by public servants and this is a habit that is being normalised. I recently witnessed a blatant abuse of a government owned Toyota Prado last Monday in Mazenod, whilst buying airtime at one of the shacks, near Basotho Canners. To digress a bit in order to emphasise an important point, Basotho Canners is located in Mazenod and not Masianokeng. The boundary between Masianokeng and Mazenod is demarcated by the Phuthiatsana River. Our dearly beloved Mapetla people have a tendency of extending or over-reaching their boundaries into other people’s yards. This is just to put it on record. So, whilst buying airtime and socialising with my people in Mazeond, I saw a very disgusting thing. A Toyota Prado with a blue light mounted on the dash-board was abruptly parked in front of the shacks. This was clearly a government vehicle but the number plates were stripped off. Well, to my surprise, I was the only one in shock and then I decided to watch this scene. After the Prado stopped, I saw one lady exiting the passenger side of the front seat with a wine glass. I mean, what is this? A Toyota Prado with no number plates, dirty as hell with drunken girls inside. Is this how our taxes are put to good use? This is the question that we often ask ourselves as taxpayers when we see appalling conditions of our roads in Lesotho. Our roads are characterised by potholes, lack of surface road markings, dark roads because of dysfunctional street-lights, broken and damaged guardrails and dysfunctional traffic lights, in places like Ha Mots’oeneng and Lekhaloaneng. This is the character of our roads and we’ve accepted it. But I must say, we have to give credit where credit is due. The Roads Directorate has made some strides to turn the tide in order to gain public confidence. The first thing that impressed me by far has been the application of surface road marking from Moshoeshoe I Airport, all the way to the Maseru Border Post. I run every morning along the Moshoeshoe I road to Moshoeshoe I International airport even though my friends think that I’m being economical with the truth. Yes, I am a runner. Running had become a pain because of dangerous road conditions. As I have pointed out, most of the roads lack surface road markings. This was the condition of the Moshoeshoe I road from the Airport. But the road now looks so much safer and so organised after paint was applied. Yes, it’s not the best quality paint by the look of things but it works for now. It’s not only lines that have been re-painted but also some arrows and islands have been re-surfaced. The junction between Main South I Road and Moshoeshoe I Road looks much safer and organised. These are the kind of things we want to see as taxpayers. We want to see the value of our taxes. Not only have the road markings been resurrected but there has been a concerted effort to repair the damaged road surface and to fill potholes in places such as the Ha Matala traffic circle. These are the things that bring back public confidence in government. Well, I must point out that there’s still a lot of work to do and improvements to be made. For instance, when driving down from the Airport and joining the Main South I Road to Maseru, the road has been expanded to three lanes, two lanes going up in the direction to Mafeteng and one lane going down to Maseru. What I’m referring to can be witnessed around the Mazenod Printing or the Book Centre area. Now, our people have a tendency to reverse what was meant to happen. They create two lanes going down and one going up. Two lanes going up are meant to give motorists an allowance to overtake or pass with ease where there is a slow-moving truck on the far-left hand side because of the slope. There is a high gradient from “Masianokeng” to Ha ‘Masana so this was to allow for motorists to pass with ease such as our impatient brothers ba-li Honda Fit. My suggestion is to apply markings of arrows to point out the direction of the flow of traffic. This will also help our sisters in their new BMW 1-Series vehicles to know which lane to take and when to overtake. The arrows will also help our taxi drivers from Mafeteng. They have a tendency to speed through Mazenod, where there are school children crisscrossing the road. Another matter that needs to be improved is visibility of our roads more especially at night. This is where the real chaos starts. In most instances, our roads lack cat-eyes/reflectors and obviously, proper functioning street-lights and this become a nightmare on a rainy night. This is where partnerships with the private sector have to come in because government cannot do it on its own. The new Masianokeng Lifestyle Centre has recently installed solar powered street lights from the main road to the Shopping Centre gate. The street lights work like magic. They even have a motion sensor to increase illumination when a car passes underneath and reduce it after it has gone through. These are the type of innovations and technological advances that have to be introduced by the private sector. No, not in terms of tenders but public, private partnership (PPP) initiatives. Those PPP initiatives can be structured in the form of concession agreements. This could be the easiest way to manage damaged traffic lights, street-lights and signs. For instance, a private company can be given a contract to manage main South I Road with strict conditions to adhere to such as cleanliness and maintenance. This will also help to build capacity for our local road construction companies to gain experience in road maintenance because government cannot do it on its own. This will also help to create jobs especially for graduates from Lerotholi Polytechnic, LOIC and Leloaleng. But all in all, clean and functional roads will boost confidence in government because tax-payers will see direct benefits of their money. It is a concept that needs to be thought through but it can boost the economy. Ten concession agreement/contracts can be put on trial to manage ten of the biggest roads in the country or in Maseru to start with. In conclusion I say, well done Roads Directorate more especially as we enter into the festive season. We need safe roads. Credit must also be extended to the department of Road Safety and the Road Fund for reaching out in terms of funding to the Roads Directorate in order to enable it to exercise its mandate. Good job and well done! ‘Mako Bohloa