Botswana: A description of the district roads labour‐intensive improvement and maintenance programme

Abstract

Two major themes of Botswana's Fifth and Sixth Development Plans (1976‐1991) have been the creation of employment and rural development As one means of fulfilling both objectives, the Government of Botswana explicitly decided that labour‐intensive methods should be used by District Councils to improve and maintain the 13 000 kilometres of non‐gazetted roads for which they were responsible. To this end, between 1980 and 1982. a pilot project was carried out to examine the potential of labour‐intensive methods. In 1982. following its evaluation of the pilot project, the Ministry of Local Government and Lands decided that the methods developed during the pilot project should be replicated throughout Botswana. As a result District Council roads units have been established in all nine districts of Botswana. Over two thousand kilometres of road have been constructed and maintained; over 3 000 people are employed. This paper provides descriptions of (i) the organisational structure, (ii) the Junctions carried out at each level and (iii) the training programme, which is a crucial component in the overall success of the work.

Notes

Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.