Kimberley - The construction of the controversial road in the troubled Kuruman area is set to start in the next few weeks, the Northern Cape government said at the weekend.
Mafu Davids, the spokesman for Northern Cape Premier Sylvia Lucas, said that the government “is well under way to start the construction of the 130km road this month”.
“The adjudication process is in progress and we will soon announce the contractor who will be responsible for building the road. We will have started with the construction before September is out,” Davids said.
He pointed out that the government has always been committed to delivering services in the province, including the protest ravaged Kuruman area.
“This government will continue to work as hard as it always has to roll out services to our people in the province. But what we are not happy with is the irresponsibility of the closure of our schools in the name of service delivery protests. We once again plead with the people of Kuruman to allow children to go back to school so that they can plan for their examinations, especially the matric learners,” Davids said.
He rejected claims by the residents of Kuruman that the government had forgotten them.
“We will never forget our people. We accepted them when they requested to be included in the Northern Cape because they are our people. The government has identified the John Taolo Gaetsewe region as a nodal point for the integrated sustainable rural development programme and thus a strategic focus area for concentrated rural development,” Davids said.
He added that government has made significant strides towards improving the lives of the people of the Province, including those in Kuruman.
Davids also urged the residents of the area to be patient with government because some of the programmes that it (government) had planned for the region cannot be implemented overnight.
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