JAMES HALL MBABANE – “Roads Leading Nowhere” and other useless public works projects will become a thing of the past if the Swaziland Environmental Authority (SEA) has its way. The environmental authority faults the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation for undertaking road construction without filing environmental assessment reports, as required by law. One example is a highway in the northern Hhohho region near the SA border that dead-ends at a river. No plans to bridge the river were ever contemplated. “If we were consulted, we would have vetoed the project. That road will end up a donga,” said the SEA in a statement. Swaziland has been on a highway building boom for ten years, vastly expanding its road transport system. Road freight haulers generally approve of the expansion, but fault the public works ministry on delays on key routes, ill-conceived routing and sometimes shoddy construction that is not remedied by proper road maintenance.
