12 Jun 2017

The formulation of an eight year Lobatse regeneration plan which seeks to revive the economy of the town is said to be gaining momentum.

An urban planner from the Department of Town and Country Planning, Mr Eugene Ndaba said a local consultancy company had been engaged to do the groundwork for the plan which will come into effect between 2017 and 2024.

Making a presentation during the Lobatse District urban development committee capacity building workshop in Gaborone last week, he said a draft of the regeneration plan was expected to be completed in September this year.

He explained that the plan entails turning Lobatse into a thriving place worthy of investing and living in by making the physical image of the town attractive through the redesigning of several physical structures.

The physical structures targeted for redesigning under the plan, Mr Ndaba said, were the town park, specific roads and certain areas and some commercial places in the town.

“The town park should be in use every day. There is not much activity in it at the moment but there is potential for more.

There is a proposal for a commercial place to support the park,” said Mr Ndaba, explaining that the project would not require a lot of investment in terms of funding.

He further said another objective of the plan entailed establishing a central business district in Lobatse, which would create competitive investment opportunities for the town.

In addition, Mr Ndaba explained that the plan sought to maximise the use of existing recreational facilities such as Lobatse Sports Complex and Motswedi Recreation area to make the town an exciting place for entertainment, use hills surrounding the town for scenic viewing and establish a high value hotel in Lobatse.

“Our objective is to develop Lobatse without compromising its value. We want to create opportunities by managing land use. There are a lot of historical sites that we can use to position Lobatse where we want. We are looking at specific areas that will derive maximum benefits and trigger the regeneration of the town,” Mr Ndaba said, urging stakeholders to pull their weight behind the regeneration plan so that it could succeed.

He said the decision to regenerate the town came after Lobatse Town Council appealed for assistance from government following the realisation that the population of Lobatse was experiencing a negative growth of 0.2 per cent. ENDS