Eswatini’s capital city has fulfilled a decades-old desire to rid traffic congestion in the central business district of Mbabane and provide road freight with an alternative route into the city.
The new R40 million road Somhlolo Road, opened this week, extends from the city centre to the industrial area located west of the city.
From the road’s terminus, road freight and other traffic can utilise the highway to connect with Oshoek Border Post, the country’s main entrance to South Africa.
A second new traffic highway, Sifundzani Road, was constructed simultaneously and completed.
Construction for both traffic arteries began last October. Road freight had utilised a previous road into town on the route now occupied by Somhlolo Road.
The previous route was narrow, winding and lacking pedestrian walkways, leading to numerous accidents and traffic deaths.
Government authorities have assured the public that lighting will make the new route safe at night.
For road freight operators, particularly courier services ferrying packages to businesses in the capital, the wide and well-designed motorway will make their operations more efficient, swifter and less perilous.
Somhlolo Road also offers access to Sandla, a major Mbabane suburb, and other townships.
Coming on the heels of the opening two months ago of a major highway interchange at the central business hub of Manzini, the Mbabane road signals a shift in road infrastructure development in the country.
For the past decades, emphasis has been on highways connecting population centres. With the announcement of a new bypass road slated for Manzini, to run just west of the CBD, the trend has become one of building roads to facilitate traffic into and out of towns while alleviating motor traffic congestion within central business districts.
The Somhlolo Road was built by a local firm, Inyatsi Construction, which has become the dominant public works building contractor for the government.
