15 Nov 2015

One of the civic leaders for Sowa Town wants the Minister of Lands and Housing, Mr Prince Maele’s intervention in efforts to develop the town and even attract investors.

Addressing a special full council meeting on Wednesday, the council’s Self Help Housing Agency (SHHA) committee chairperson Cllr Botho Ntirang noted that it is has been over 20 years since the town was established, but up to date, there is nothing significant, which is taking place towards the development of this soda ash mining town.

Cllr Ntirang pointed out that from the initial layouts, which included residential plots of which about 94 per cent of the developed plots were supplied by Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC), it was hoped that the mining would attract many industries to use products from the soda ash, hence lead to the demand for land.

He however noted that it has not been possible as result of many factors, amongst such being capacity and lack of interest by investors. The second phase to be demarcated, he highlighted, was Block 3 layout, which started in 2007 and also did not bring the required results.

He said Block 3 is one of the areas that could have brought developments in the township, but due to problems encountered in the servicing of land, the land remains undeveloped and this has impacted negatively on the development of the town.

Cllr Ntirang thus proposed that they seek the minister’s intervention in their situation as they aim to develop the town and take it to another level.

He proposed that because of the town’s compatibility, it should be considered for the pilot project on the recent approved Public Private Partnership (PPP) policy on land servicing by the ministry of lands and housing. This, he said can be implemented on both commercial and residential areas and further proposed that the ministry should consider special attention or adopt a model of advertising the town to attract investors and assist in the town’s economic and development growth.

“The town already has a town marketing team and will submit terms of reference for the ministry appreciation and support,” he said.

He further pleaded that Sowa be considered in the recent announced Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP), citing the provision of offices and staff housing, which will relief the town of shortage of accommodation for government employees.

Currently, he said most of the government departments are operating from BHC houses, therefore having a one stop service centre will improve the service delivery and it will also be convenient to the customers. Ends