11 Jan 2017

North East district deputy district commissioner, Ms Itani Mathumo has stated that though they have completed numerous projects in their district, there were some that were left behind due to lack of funds.

Briefing the Assistant Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tati West, Mr Biggie Butale on Monday, she said that some of the affected projects included culverts construction, drifts within internal roads, gravelling of roads, water supply and maintenance.

She further stated that there were also institutions in the district that needed serious maintenance such as Zwenshambe Junior Secondary School (ZJSS) as they have dilapidated facilities but cannot be done due to financial constraints.

Ms Mathumo said they were experiencing numerous leakages in the water supply network, largely attributed to the age of the network and use of substandard material during the construction of the network.

She noted that most of the village networks were more than a decade old hence causing leakages and some of the materials that were used in the construction of service lines were substandard, causing Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) to experience over 1000 pipe bursts every quarter for Masunga management centre.

The deputy district commissioner said the water supply from Ntimbale dam and treatment works does not meet demand for North East District, Ramokgwebana Border post and Jackalas No 1 being amongst those facing acute shortage.

She said that ‘though the design project is complete, WUC is still awaiting funding for the construction phase, which will only commence as soon as the funds are available.’

Ms Mathumo also added that Ntimbale dam does not have a standby generator despite it being the sole source of water for a larger population of North East District.

Furthermore, she stated that among the 112 Youth Development Fund (YDF) applications, which were received, only 38 were adjudicated while 31 were rejected and the remaining could not be adjudicated due to depletion of funds.

In addition, she said other challenges facing the district included shortage of office and public officers’ accommodation.

The assistant minister stated that North East District has a lot of potential to create wealth, adding that Ntimbale dam has a huge potential in tourist attraction.

He said with the recent closure of BCL and Tati Nickel mines, Thune, Dikgatlhong and Letsibogo dams would be turned into tourist sites.

Mr Butale pleaded with government to include Ntimbale dam amongst them since it was also affected by the closure of mines of which the request was approved.

He also stated that the district intends making a small game reserve by Ntimbale dam to attract tourists on their way to Nata, Chobe and Kasane so that they could also raise funds for their district development projects.

The assistant minister said that the alcohol levy was not enough to be shared among all districts in the country, hence the need to come up with ways of sourcing funds.

Addressing the North East District head of departments (HODs), Mr Butale also indicated that government was in the process of giving constituencies P10 million each for projects.

He therefore urged both HODs in both Tati East and Tati West to use the money wisely and make valuable projects that will last longer. ENDS