12 Apr 2013

Parliament has approved the National Development Plan (NDP) 10 draft mid-term review on macroeconomic chapters.

The April 11 approval followed legislators debate on the issue. In his comments on Thursday, the Assistant Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Mr Vincent Seretse said there was nothing wrong with government determining development projects and programmes for the second part of the National Development Plan (NDP) 10.

While a number of MPs had voiced out their discomfort during their contribution on the NDP 10 mid-term review, Mr Seretse noted that there was nothing untoward with the new idea saying the same principle of bottom-up planning would continue to be used before government decide on projects to be prioritised during each financial year.

“So there is no how projects that are not part of the NDP 10 would be given priority ahead of those that are already in the plan,” Mr Seretse said.

During his presentation on the NDP 10 midterm review recently, Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Mr Kenneth Matambo said uncertainty regarding government revenue led government to decide on determining projects and programmes for the remaining three years of NDP 10 annually.

Meanwhile, some MPs such as Mr Mmoloki Raletobana, Maj. Gen. Moeng Pheto and Mr Wynter Mmolotsi felt the process would be less transparent compared to the old one where projects were agreed beforehand.

In his contribution to the review, the Tswapong North MP, Mr Prince Maele said it was crucial for government to look at disaster management holistically. Mr Maele said the country should always be prepared for economic disaster like it does with natural disasters.

Further, the MP welcomed the proposal to shift dependence from mining sector to non-mining sector. He said there was strong evidence that the mining sector contribution to the GDP was declining therefore government should invest more on other sectors.

He also said government should push the economic diversification strongly because it was crucial for the economy to be diverse to achieve economic growth. One way of diversifying economy, according to Mr Maele was through developing the private sector to a point where it reduced dependence on government for business survival.

Kgatleng West MP, Mr Isaac Mabiletsa said he was concerned by government’s overemphasis on reducing budget deficit at the expense of implementing crucial planned development projects. Mr Mabiletsa said running the budget on a deficit was not necessarily a bad thing provided the country invested on projects with high returns.

“We should not be proud of achieving a budget surplus while the economy continues to perform badly.”

The MP for Molepolole North, Mr Gaotlhaetse Matlhabaphiri on the other hand strongly condemned opposition party legislators for criticising government without offering solutions.

Mr Matlhabaphiri said opposition MPs have continued to criticise even though government has done its best to improve the economy in the face of the current financial hardships.

Some of those efforts, he said, were the prioritising of production of more electricity in order to ensure that country has sufficient electricity, the diamond beneficiation process, and spreading infrastructure across every part of the country.  ENDS