10 Mar 2016

The Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology (MIST) will spend P217.7 million in the rehabilitation and refurbishment of government buildings in the 2016/17 financial year.

Minister Nonofo Molefhi announced this when presenting his ministry’s budget estimates totaling P803.9 million in Parliament .

The budget consisted of P370.3 million development budget and P433.5 million recurrent estimates.

Mr Molefhi also informed Parliament that his ministry would construct the science and technology park and the Botswana Innovation Hub headquarters in the coming financial year.

Appraising Parliament about progress regarding his ministry, he said they had made significant progress in creating an enabling environment for construction industry to thrive.

He said the Engineers Registration Board was continuing the process of registering engineers, with 1 492 already registered.

“As I indicated previously, MIST has established three registration boards to register all engineers, quantity surveyors and architects to guide and regulate their professional conduct to ensure compliance to expected outputs and standards,” he said.

Furthermore, he stated that the Architects Registration Council had also commenced registration of architects, regretting that the Building Control Act had not commenced because the procurement of a suitable consultant was still ongoing.

He also said the drafting of the Act for the Construction Industry Regulator and Construction Registration Board was ongoing and was expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2016/17.

On major projects under his ministry he stated that the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport has been successfully completed, while the construction of additional stands at the National Stadium was ongoing.

“The project completion and handover is expected on the 15 August 2016. Botswana National Sports Council would continue using the stadium. 

However, their activities will be minimized as a safety measure,” Mr Molefhi said.

He said as part of the ministry’s youth empowerment initiative, a total of 44 youth owned construction companies and 77 individual youths with vocational skills have been awarded maintenance projects worth P26.4 million and P494, 690, 98 respectively through the youth empowerment reservation programme. 

He said this has created 5 793 jobs for the youth. Parliament was set to debate the budget yesterday. Ends