At independence in 1966, roads were administered through the colonial Public Works Department (PWD). The Roads Branch of the PWD was headed by a Senior Roads Engineer and had the responsibility to maintain all public roads in the whole country. The road network then consisted of only 12km of paved roads. The remaining roads were mainly unengineered earth/sand roads. For an annual budget of less than R1 million (1966 prices), the main activities of the Branch centred on maintaining these roads. For updated and detailed information please visit the Department of Roads website.

Tebelopele

Re le lephata la ditsela re tlaa tsamaisaditsela tse di babalesegileng tse di tlaa rotloetsang botshelo jo bo molemo e bile di sa kgotlele tikologo.

Maitlamo

Lephata la ditsela le itlamile go neela batswana ditsela tse di bulegileng, di se turu, di le bofefo ka tsela e e sa fitlheng sepe, boikarabelo jo bo kwa godimo e bile re kgathalela tikologo re rerisanya le ba-na-le-seabe go godisa tshwaragano le mafatshe ka tsa ditsela.

Shared values

• Transparency
• botho
• accountability
• commitment
• customer focus
• gender sensitivity
• equality
• disability sensitivity
• professional integrity

At independence in 1966, roads were administered through the colonial Public Works Department (PWD). The Roads Branch of the PWD was headed by a Senior Roads Engineer and had the responsibility to maintain all public roads in the whole country. The road network then consisted of only 12km of paved roads. The remaining roads were mainly unengineered earth/sand roads. For an annual budget of less than R1 million (1966 prices), the main activities of the Branch centred on maintaining these roads.

Although long term planning in the form of National Development Plans (NDPs) has been practiced over a number of years by Government it has become clear that there is a need to improve this system of planning to make it more systematic and responsive to meet the demands of a more discerning and critical public than has been the case in the past. Under these conditions Government has embarked on a more systematic approach to long term planning in the form of strategic planning. The key elements of the strategic planning being; the Strategic Foundation, Strategic Focusing, Action Planning, Implementation, Measurement and Quality Assurance.

Given the prevailing and projected economic indicators in Botswana, including an existing, conducive, economic base and the assumption that future infrastructure investment is undertaken as part of a coherent package of development initiatives, the linkage between investment in road transport infrastructure and the positive impact on economic growth will continue to apply during NDP9.

National Development Plan -9 contains a list of approved projects for implement during the NDP-9 period. Development projects have a list of on-going design and construction projects.Development Division is responsible for carrying out the design and construction of road and bridge projects.
Maintenance division is responsible for routine, periodic and emergency projects. For on-going list of maintenance projects click on the sub links of projects.

The Ministry of Works and Transport, under which Roads Department falls, acknowledges the impact of HIV/AIDS on its workforce and on the industries in which it works. Furthermore the implications of HIV/AIDS stretch across economic, financial and social realms. It affects productivity, service delivery and morale at the workplace, observes the HIV/AIDS policy Ministry of Works and Transport (2004,4).

The Directorate of Public Service Management, government's employing agency published the 'Public Service code of conduct on HIV/AIDS in the workplace' in 2001. It articulates the rights, responsibilities and obligations of both the employer and employee in accordance with the Botswana national AIDS policy and in respect to the public officer's performance, public service productivity and protection of individuals from the impact of HIV/AIDS, (2001,4).

The code exists to provide a foundation for sustainable HIV/AIDS education programmes and services in the workplace, eliminate complacency and denial about the magnitude of the country's HIV/AIDS problem in the public sector, promote the active involvement at all levels in the development, implementation of HIV/AIDS prevention, management and care programmes in the Ministries and Departments, promote consistent responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the public service and to articulate the position of the public service and its practices as they relate to officers who are infected or affected by HIV/AIDS.

Initiatives by the Ministry of Works and Transport (HIV/AIDS) and the Directorate of Public Service Management (Code of conduct) are part of the Botswana National Strategic Framework for HIV/AIDS 2003-2009, whose purpose is to 'articulate, disseminate and educate the public at large on agreed national priorities and strategies within the scope of Vision 2016. Secondly the National Strategic Framework seeks to provide a clear guidance for Ministries, Districts, non-governmental organizations and the private sector to enable them to work in a collaborative manner in achieving the intended goal of the national response to HIV/AIDS, being to eliminate the incidence of HIV and reduce the impact of AIDS in Botswana', NSF 2003-2009 (2003,9).

Roads Department has HIV/AIDS Committees in all its outstations and at Headquarters in Gaborone. Through its collaborative efforts with the District Multi Sectoral AIDS Committees, themselves a creation of the National Strategic Framework, the Department has received immense material support from the Districts in which it is represented. DMSACs have financially and materially supported the out-reach programmes of the Department, whose staff are found in the remote rural areas doing maintenance, development, administration and research work.

The Office of the HIV/AIDS Coordinator in the Ministry of Works and Transport has organized courses for peer educators and lay counselors from all the outstations and headquarters of the Department. The HIV/AIDS Coordinator has advocated for the adoption and implementation of the HIV/AIDS policy for the Ministry. Advocacy workshops have already been held for members of the Senior Leadership Team and the middle management cadre in the Department as part of a plan to cascade the policy to all levels of people in the Organisation. This is the challenge, that now remains for all the HIV/AIDS Focal Persons, Peer Educators and Lay Counsellors and the entire population in the Department.