27 Aug 2015

The mayor of Selebi Phikwe Mr Amogelang Mojuta has implored councillors and the community at large to fully participate in the development planning of the mining town.

He explained that the implementation of the Urban Development Plan 3 (UDP 3) and the National Development Plan 10 (NDP 10) have been extended by a year from 2016 to 2017, which gives them the opportunity to properly plan ahead for NDP 11 and UDP 4.

He said this giving ‘the state of the town address’ recently where he also officially opened the third ordinary full council session. Mr Mojuta said the community and councilors must realise that the quality of livelihoods and level of development are contingent upon the quality of the planning process.

This therefore, he said, means that they should seriously think about drawing up the subsequent set of developments. He noted that the plan preparation process for NDP 11 and UDP 4 have started in earnest. He said the National Keynote Policy Paper, which is the framework on which national priorities will be conceived, has been issued.

“As you may recall, in November 2014, the community of Selebi Phikwe, together with other stakeholders such as government institutions, non-governmental organisations and community based organisations, converged in a conference through which a review of existing plans was conducted.

 It was during this conference that we also came up with a schedule of projects and programmes that we wish to implement during NDP11 and UDP 4,” he said.He noted that after having done that, the government realised that some fundamental planning perspectives were never considered.

 “It is from this backdrop that the current planning process will mainstream elements on Poverty Eradication, Sustainable Development, Population Dynamics and Local Economic Development,” he said. He explained that the elements will be synthesized into the usual thematic issues of economy, employment, sustainable environment, governance, safety and security and social upliftment.

He implored councilors to go back to the community and consult them again on projects that they desire to be included in the plan documents. On other issues, Mr Mojuta said roads and associated maintenance works are being carried out around town. 

He said the maintenance routine of primary school pots, streetlights and traffic lights is ongoing. Ends