Road upgrade creates highway chaos in Swaziland

MBABANE – Highway traffic
chaos began last week in
Mbabane, and won’t let up
for at least seven months.
The eastern entrance and
exit of Mbabane, formerly a
four-lane divided highway,
was cut to two lanes for
construction of a
by-pass road.
An additional 30
minutes is required by road
users entering and leaving
the capital.
There is no alternative
route but a rocky road
accessible only by 4x4
vehicles, but unusable
by trucks.
The halving of the
highway is only half the
problem. A series of traffic
bumps was installed in a
quarter-kilometre stretch
of twisting and steep
Malagwane Hill to reduce
traffic flow to 40 kph
by the construction site.
However, the tarmac bumps
were improperly built, and
require all vehicles to come
to a virtual halt to avoid
vehicle damage.
Truck and private
vehicle accidents have
been the order of the day.
Government’s Ministry of
Transportation and Public
Works is unconcerned by
the mess, and dismisses the
situation as “temporary.”
“Seven months is
not ‘temporary,’ and we
can expect the usual
construction overruns.
Welcome to the 19th
Century. Ox-cart travel is
faster,” said one trucker.
The route is the only
one available to road
freight hauliers from
Gauteng bringing industrial
inputs and goods to the
Matsapha Industrial Estate
outside Manzini and the
commercial hub of
Manzini itself.
“Can you imagine
Maseru, Port Elizabeth,
Nelspruit or a similar-sized
city cut off like this? I urge
all my colleagues in the
roadfreight business to dust
off their ‘Plan Bs,’” said the
manager of one Matsapha
trucking company.
Non-peak time travel
is one option, although
the notorious improperlyconstructed
speed bumps
will still be present.