07 Dec 2016

The Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Mr Frans Van Der Westhuizen has expressed concern over late completion of projects in councils.

After touring Jwaneng Town Council (JTC) construction projects in Jwaneng recently, the assistant minister said such delays had a negative impact on the ministry and the communities they serve.

He said even though government took a deliberate decision to empower councils by decentralising project implementation, this has proved to be a challenge across many councils.

The assistant minister said it was disappointing that councils failed to complete the approved projects, but keep requesting for more projects from the ministry.

Mr Van Der Westhuizen underscored the need to realise how crucial these projects were to the community and the urgency they required.

“For example the issue of teachers’ houses always crops up during kgotla meetings or any official meetings we address,” he said.He urged the JTC management to come up with a plan that will turn things around for the better. He advised them to go to the drawing board to close loopholes in the paperwork where the tendering process begin.

He also urged them to manage their projects properly to avoid disparities in work output and disbursed funds.

Mr Van Der Westhuizen advised them to hold the contractors accountable for failing to meet contractual obligations rather than terminating contracts from time to time.

He noted that the latter was costly to the government because engaging a new contractor comes with cost overruns.

“Even when you terminate contracts you should follow the right procedures to avoid contractors claiming even more money from the government without delivering the projects,” he said.Additionally, he urged them to do research on the directors of the companies they engage for these projects, so that they do not keep awarding the same directors who have failed them in the past.

Specially elected councilor Ms Olga Ditsie said project delay has become a culture in their council and they were equally concerned.

“Batswana were excited when ESP started, they were hopeful that the program will impact positively in our communities but unfortunately that is not the case in our township,” she said.

She said as councillors, they have raised concern that none of the contractors engaged in construction of these projects were local. She also opposed the idea of terminating contracts, saying the council should get everything right from the start to close loopholes.

Ms Ditsie called for an audit to establish the cause of poor project implementation, which she said was denting government coffers.

The Jwaneng town clerk Mr Dick Kalantle acknowledged that his council was facing a challenge of project implementation, and that they will heed the assistant minister’s advice to strategise on changing the status quo.

He noted that they were also concerned at the slow rate of project delivery, despite the council’s interventions. ENDS