15 Dec 2014

The Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Ms Botlogile Tshireletso says since the implementation of the Town and Country Planning Act, 2003 there has been some major achievements.

Ms Tshireletso was answering a question in parliament from the Member of Parliament for Francistown East Mr Buti Billy who wanted to know if the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development was aware that the government recently decentralised functions of the then Town and Country Planning Board to councils through enactment of the new Town and Country Planning Act of 2003 which became operational in April 2014, if so what the achievements and challenges have been.  

 Ms Tshireletso said some of the achievements included improved turnaround time as applications were now considered within a month as opposed to a period of at least two months before the establishment of the Physical Planning Committee in councils.

Another achievement, Ms Tshireletso said, was that of informed decision making. She said the committees consisted of local people, professionals and business community from different planning and development fields, hence the decisions were well informed due to local knowledge.

In addition, she said decision makers were able to visit sites for verification and make informed decisions since they were on the ground. Ms Tshireletso further said the setup provided an opportunity for direct interaction between applicants and the committees where there were issues that needed clarification.

She further said applicants could easily visit the office to get firsthand information on how their applications had been or were being dealt with, thus enhancing the understanding of the local population on planning requirements. All these were to observe the principle of natural justice and transparency.  

The assistant minister also said another achievement was that of cost savings because government no longer incurred travelling costs for district planners to present to the Town and Country Planning Board.

On challenges, Ms Tshireletso said there was shortage of planners in local authorities to discharge additional functions and responsibilities as there were no additional posts created due to zero manpower growth.  

She further said due to limited budget, local authorities were unable to provide a comprehensive support structure for the Physical Planning Committees such as office space and records management.

Ms Tshireletso also said recruiting people with relevant skills into Physical Planning Committee membership was a challenge. She said efforts to engage parastatals like Botswana Power Corporation and Botswana Housing Corporation had proved difficult. ENDS