04 Mar 2015

Tonota MP Mr Thapelo Olopeng has said Palapye qualifies to be turned into a capital city.

Debating Ministry of Lands and Housing 2015/2016 budget proposal of P1.67 Billion on Tuesday, Mr Olopeng who is also Minister for Youth Sport and Culture said Palapye is endowed with necessary amenities to contain the pressures of a capital city adding that its location was suitable enough as it was surrounded by lakes and dams which will ensure water was adequate enough to supply the city.

He also reasoned that it will not be too expensive to draw electricity since Morupule power station was within reach. Making comparisons to the current capital city of Gaborone he said there was not enough sufficient flow of water, “ke kopa hela rra gore mogopolo o oko bogolo o o kwale ka pencil rra,” he said looking at Minister Prince Maele’s direction.

Mr Olopeng said given the already existing infrastructural developments in Gaborone, it should instead be turned into commercial city.

“This practice is there in other countries,” he said. He further called for some areas in Tonota to be declared Special Economic Zones particularly along the A1 road which he said was an area rich with natural resources such as rivers and dams.

He cautioned that Batswana were selling undeveloped land under the pretext that it belonged to a company. He requested the minister to rectify this loophole in the legislature to avoid such occurrences.

Mr Olopeng further said to deal with the water shortage in the capital city perhaps the Ministry could license borehole drilling in or around the capital city in order to meet the water demand.

Also joining in the debate, Tlokweng MP Ms Same Bathobakae thanked the Ministry of Lands and Housing for instituting necessary reforms to enable Batswana to access land by enacting Town and Country Planning Act of 2013 which decentralises authority and empowers Physical Planning department to deal with planning issues within their jurisdictions.

She said when there was backlog on the plot allocations people tended to take the law into their hands and embarked on illegal plot development in Tlokweng.

Ms Bathobakae also appreciated the development of increasing Turn Key Housing Scheme from P60 000 to P90 000.

However she implored the ministry to keep a watchful eye on the contracted construction company which she said had a tendency of building poor, unattractive housing structures .

Further she said the ministry had allocated land and yet the land was not serviced citing new plots in Ranfura and Maratanang.

The Tlokweng legislator further said corruption remained in Land Boards where deserving citizens were denied access to land adding that some people acquire land through unscrupulous means, “o tlaa fitlhela motho a beilwe mme a na le ditsha kwa le kwa mme yo o senang le fa e le sepe ene a sa bona sepe,” she said. ENDS