LINEO MABEKEBEKE Maseru City Council (MCC) will work tirelessly to ensure that Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets related to transportation and sustainable cities are achieved by implementing a roads infrastructure network development. Town Clerk for Maseru Moeko Maboee spoke about SDG 11, which seeks to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, among other objectives, which he highlighted concerning the upgrading of Mpilo road. He said the city would also achieve target 11.2 by 2030 through provision of accessible, affordable, safe and sustainable transport systems for all, including road safety. Maboee said besides the SDGs, MCC would also enhance fully the implementation of the National Vision 2020 which aims to make Lesotho a newly-industrialised country providing high quality of life for all her cities, adding that to realise that vision, there was need to implement road infrastructure network for sustainable development. He also said that MCC currently has 20 roads to be maintained and upgraded adding that extra kilometres would be worked on in the coming fiscal years. Meanwhile, the City is in the process of upgrading the Mpilo Boulevard to reduce road accidents and address daily traffic congestion, particularly at intersections along the proposed road as well as promote road infrastructure development within the city. MCC is ready to make Mpilo Boulevard Road project a success, he said. MCC therefore held a meeting with different stakeholders on the preparation of Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for the upgrading of Mpilo Boulevard Intersections. The aim of the meeting, held on Friday 22, 2019 at Avani Lesotho, was to inform affected stakeholders about the proposed project and solicit their inputs on the proposed road upgrading project. Maseru Mayor, Councillor Mpho Moloi, pointed out that the year 2018 had been a challenging year to the council due to the economic challenges Lesotho faced. She said the council had had short and long term plans which they had planned to achieve, but due to the crisis it was hard for the council to achieve its objectives. Despite the hardships felt during 2018, she said the Road Fund had always been there to help the council to deal with potholes that were seen in some roads of Maseru, while some of the affected roads are yet to be completed. She thanked those who worked hard for the government of Lesotho to grant permission to improve Mpilo road. Town Clerk, Moeko Maboee, expressed his appreciation to stakeholders, ministries and departments of the government of Lesotho who worked with MCC in the implementation of the many government-related capital programmes. “I thank you for replying positively to our invitation and for honouring us with your presence today; this shows the strong commitment of stakeholders to this project.” He further expressed appreciation to the Road Fund, which has sponsored the design and construction of the project. The project, he said, is set to improve all the intersections along the Mpilo Boulevard, eliminating all right turns, adding that would be achieved through construction of great separated intersections, fly-overs and under-passes. Traffic congestion, which causes daily delays and time losses, was one of the main triggers of the project. He said congestion has more impact on the quality of urban life, consumption of fossil fuel, air quality and economic growth, while the high rate of accidents which Mpilo road experiences, particularly during festive seasons, caused conflicts between pedestrians and the traffic. He said: “We are committed to designing and constructing extra kilometres in the coming fiscal year.” Road Fund Chief Executive Officer, Nkekeletse Makara, said as a fund they were willing to take part in this project because they want to be part of change in the country which is why they wanted to be part of the programme. According to him, “projects of this magnitude need people who look very deep into the future to save a lot of money.” He said they needed to be futuristic in planning their projects.