Construction work can be seen getting underway in different parts of Bloemfontein, with the metro issuing a notice informing road users the M10 route - located near the Hamilton Industrial Area and Rocklands - will be closed from April to October this year as it is under construction. Motorists have been advised to make use of an alternative road. Concerns have been raised previously, specifically by Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Transport in 2017, regarding the feasibility of having an integrated Public Transport Network in the area, when the municipality’s roads are not in mint condition.

The estimated completion of the construction work will coincide more or less with the completion of renovations to be done to the almost R400 million Intermodal Transport Facility located in the city centre of the Free State capital. On Tuesday, February 12, the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality signed a 30-year lease agreement with the Greater Bloemfontein Taxi Association (GBTA) through its entity, the Free State Taxi Association, to lease out the taxi rank. Chairperson of GBTA, Leemisa Seloane, confirmed at the press conference that the renovations are estimated to take between 8 to 10 months.

Municipal spokesperson, Qondile Khedama has revealed previously that Glad Africa & LTE was appointed as the service provider for the project around 2015. The company also listed Mangaung’s Integrated Public Transport Network (IPTN) as one of its projects on its website in 2016. The company, which has offices across the country, is responsible for the design and implementation of the project at a cost of around R5 billion. Mangaung Metro did not specify how much money was allocated to the municipality by the National Department of Transport (NDoT) for the project but did acknowledge that funds have been received for the project. OFM News has been anonymously informed that R48 million was allocated to the municipality in March of 2016, but this allocation was not included in the 2015/16 budget, because the transfer occurred after the budget adjustment.  

OFM News