25 Jun 2014

The Kgatleng District Council has managed to complete 148 projects through the Ipelegeng programme.

Addressing the full council meeting on June 23, the chairperson, Mr Tona Mooketsi said the district was also able to reach its allocated employment quota. He said since April 2013 up to March 2014, a total of 17 810 beneficiaries benefited from the programme including green scorpions.

He said for the 2014/15 financial year, the district had been allocated P15 million to cover for labour, material and sustenance for the beneficiaries.

With the funds, he said, the district would be implementing 107 projects in addition to the 14 spillovers from the previous financial year, making a total of 121 projects  for the benefit of 17 544 people. Mr Mooketsi said the projects included labour intensive works, maintenance, paving, fencing and construction projects.

He noted they have decided to increase the number of construction projects particularly storm water drainages to curb the problem of flooding in some villages especially Mochudi.

“We anticipate that the twelve remaining spill over projects will be completed by the end of June 2014, unfortunately the programme is still faced by a number of challenges such as the water restriction put in place by the Water Utilities Corporation (WUC),” he said.

These restrictions, he said were enforced due to the acute water shortage in the southern part of the country.

The corporation, he said has made it clear that portable water shall not be used for construction projects hence affecting implementation of water based projects.

Furthermore, the council chairperson said a total of 138 Youth Development Projects were funded to the tune of P12 million since the inception of the program in 2009/10 creating employment opportunities of 262.

He said 10 projects out of 138 funded projects have collapsed while 128 are currently operational however the council chairperson said the YDF beneficiaries experienced some challenges such as shortage of operational space in the manufacturing and service sectors.

“This is primarily due to exorbitant rental prices and difficulties in identifying market opportunities due to competition with already established businesses,” he noted.

Regarding the Botswana National Service Programme, Mr Mooketsi said 456 participants out of 1149 applicants were selected for placement in different departments and other organisations.

“However, only 331 applicants reported for duty on April 1, 2014 and the remaining 125 did not. 

The programme also enrolled the 32 former Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES) participants,” said Mr Mooketsi. ENDS