11 Jun 2017

Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Frans Van Der Westhuizen has encouraged local contractors to complete their project as per agreements.

Speaking at a tour of Economic Stimulus Programme and Backlog Eradication projects in Morwa and Mochudi on June 7, Mr Van Der Westhuizen expressed worry over some contractors who fail to comply with contractual agreements.

He said government was worried over some youth- owned companies that failed to complete projects, saying some abandoned them and disappeared into thin air.

The assistant minister further said government had taken the initiative to empower local companies and create employment for the them, but urged them to pull up their socks and build themselves a good reputation.

Mr Van Der Westhuizen however expressed his gratitude for a youth-owned company, DC Events, which constructed a double storey teachers houses for Segale Primary School, saying it did a marvelous job.

The assistant minister said some companies were doing well due to good management, adding that government would continue to support young businesses to ensure growth.

Mr Van Der Westhuizen said the ministry was facing challenges of finances to deliver services to the citizens.

The assistant minister said road maintenance remained a serious challenge, noting that the P300 million they used was not enough to maintain all roads, but they would continue lobbying for more funds to help councils.

He said they would continue to address backlog every financial year until all projects are complete.

Kgatleng District Council chairperson, Mr Mpho Morolong said the district was committed to ensuring completion of projects on time and on schedule.

He said they were taking Kgatleng forward as all their ESP projects were almost done.

Mr Morolong said going forward they would continue to encourage local contractors to do their job perfectly for the benefit of the citizenry.

He said their major challenge in the district was road maintenance, especially that most of their villages were surrounded by hills, which made storm water difficult to deal with.

Nevertheless, he said they would do with the little they had to maintain them.

He however asked the ministry to assist the district with internal roads.

For his part, council secretary, Mr Nelson Mogapi said as a district they had a storm water drainage plan, which was made in 2003/04, but had not yet been implemented.

He said they believed that if the plan was to be implemented, some of the challenges they had with roads would be overcome as most of the damage came from storm water.

The assistant minister, council chairperson and secretary and their entourage visited primary school backlog eradication projects at Ramogotsi and Segale primary schools. ENDS