06 Jul 2014

The Youth Development Fund (YDF) has made a significant improvement in the lives of young people in the North West district, as it has created employment for 249 people.

North West District councillors were informed during a full council session that about 182 businesses have been established in the district under the programme. The council chairperson, Mr Lathang Molonda indicated that since the inception of YDF in 2009/10 to date, the programme has cumulatively funded 182 youth projects to the tune of  P15 million in the district.

Councillor for Kubung ward, Mr Pelokgale Monyame had wanted to know if the programme has achieved its goals, the impact made taking into consideration the challenges it faced such as lack of transport to monitor projects effectively, low loan repayment level by youth, high rental charges and limited market access for the youth businesses.

Nominated Cllr Lesedi Boy asked why tender for supply of chicken to Shakawe Senior Secondary School was awarded to a bidder from Palapye while there are YDF beneficiaries who had poultry projects in Shakawe.

The acting district commissioner, Mr Keabetswe Lesiela said the least cost method of evaluation was used as per the tender documents and the PPADB Act.

He said the issue of locality is taken into consideration provided the price of the bidder is reasonable adding that local/citizen empowerment and Presidential Directives are considered when awarding and the committee make recommendations basing on all factors.

Some councillors requested for a progress report on the implementation of the YDF programme for the financial year 2013/14 and were informed that under that financial year, 55 projects were approved.

The meeting was informed that 53 beneficiaries had their funds deposited into their bank accounts prior to the end of the financial year while two people are awaiting funds disbursement. Commenting on other issues, councillors complained about the potholes along Sehithwa/Mohembo road.

An official of Road Department, Mr David Bogatsu said the road was old and in a bad state and needed to be re-constructed but due to financial constraints, they decided to do it in stages.

He said the tender for Maun/Sehithwa road had been awarded and that the project would be started first week of July. The project entailed the resealing of the road, he added. Mr Bogatsu said the pothole patching for Sehithwa/Tsau road would start beginning of July.

Regarding Tsau/Nokaneng road, he said the overlay tenders were still floating and would be closed on July 9, 2014 with expectation to start the project by end of August 2014. ENDS