04 Mar 2015

Legislators on March 3 approved Minister for Lands and Housing Mr Prince Maele’s budget submission of P1.67 billion to stand part of 2015/2016 national budget estimates.

Of the P1.67 billion total budget for the ministry which is higher than the current financial year budget by 35 per cent, P893.4 million will finance development budget while P772.6 will be channeled towards the recurrent expenditure.

He said in totality the development budget has increased by 78 per cent compared to 2014/2015 financial year, while the recurrent has slightly increased by five per cent when compared to the current financial year.

Giving reasons for an overly increased development budget he said the larger part of the development budget which is P428.7 million will be allocated for land servicing projects such as implementation of the continuing infrastructure developments in Palapye Extension 11, Metsimotlhabe Block 4 and the design and construction for the special economic zone in Gaborone.

He added that the remaining amount will go into Sowa Infrastructure project as well as the nine ongoing infrastructure designs.

Mr Maele said P244.7 million of the development budget would be allocated to Low Income Housing Programmes such as Self Help Housing Agency (SHHA) where an estimated 500 beneficiaries will get SHHA home improvement loans as well as SHHA Turnkey Projects wherein about 1000 Batswana are projected to be beneficiaries. 

Further he said within this requested amount there will be implementation of four new poverty alleviation and housing projects as well as housing scheme for public officers of D4 salary scale and below.

Under the Recurrent budget which is P772.6, he said, 51 per cent of the amount will be used for Revenue Support Grant for the 12 Land Boards and the subordinate authorities while the remaining P375.8 million will be shared amongst various Ministry of Lands and Housing departments such as Housing, Lands, Surveys and Mapping, Town and Regional Planning, Deeds Registry, Technical Services as well as the headquarters.

Supporting the budget earlier on, Shoshong MP Mr Philip Makgalemele appreciated the ministry for instituting reforms that will enable Batswana to get better service delivery from Ministry of Lands and Housing.

He said Land Administration Procedures, Capacity and Systems (LAPCAS) was a welcome land intervention that would help identify plots and ensure fair land distribution.

He also appreciated the ministry for developing a strategy that will engage the private sector to participate in infrastructural development across all land tenures adding that this is a commendable initiative that will go a long way in enabling Batswana to access land in reduced periods.

He implored the Ministry to consider developing Phephenyane business district in his constituency, which he said was in a dilapidated state.

Further Mr Makgalemele called for the fast tracking of the Revised Land Policy which he said was long overdue.

For his part, Tati West MP Mr Biggie Butale said there was a backlog of unserviced plots yet allocated which he said weighed heavily on performance of councils. He said industrial plots in Francistown, Somerset are too expensive which may impede plot owners from developing them.

Mr Butale also expressed dissatisfaction at SHHA budget which he said was not enough reasoning that in every financial year particularly the remaining four months of the financial year, beneficiaries are not adequately assisted.

This he said leads to a backlog of requests because finances run out at this particular time of the year hence increased waiting lists.

He also said the SHHA beneficiary amount which was increased from P45 000 to P60 000 was not enough and he proposed it to be pegged at P100 000.

As for the Turnkey Housing scheme he also called for an adjustment from P90 000 to P150 000 for the reason that the houses built with the money are too small, “Look at me even me, I can’t fit my structure in there,” he lightly shared receiving an uproar of laughter of MPs when he shook his huge body structure.

He also called for fast tracking of land allocation in Francistown which he decried was moving at snail pace. ENDS