24 Sep 2017

Minister of Infrastructure and Housing Development, Mr Nonofo  Molefhi has informed Francistown City councillors that a tender for roofing the Francistown Sports Complex is on-going.

Addressing a special full council meeting on September 22, Mr Molefhi said the on-going tender was for designing and building as the ministry realised that the previous tender, which engaged different contractors for the design and building resulted in lapses in the project.

He therefore said the same contractor, who would design the roof, would be expected to carry-out the project.

On other issues, he told the councillors that the relocation of the Minestone BHC house occupants was delayed because of  lack of land where they would be relocated to.

He explained that it was only recently that the Ministry of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services approved a request by his ministry to allocate plots to the 24 occupants who would be relocated.

Mr Molefhi said the occupants would be given time to relocate and pleaded with the council to assess those who would need SHHA assistance.

He said his ministry would formalise the request for assessment of some of the concerned occupants for SHHA through a correspondence.

Mr Molefhi said as the occupants continued to vacate the Minestone houses, demolition would be done to avoid illegal occupation.

He also told the councillors that 16 BHC houses in Gerald Estate would be demolished as they were built in black cotton soil and they were cracking making them inhabitable.

The minister said the demolition of the houses became a lesson to ministry and hasd since started the registration of architects, engineers and would soon register quantity surveyors to ensure they deliver quality projects. Part of the registration, he said was to ensure that those who delivered shoddy jobs would be penalised.
On the Francistown-Maun Road, Mr Molefhi said it was planned that an asphalt overlay would be done but the current damage on the road called for a reconstruction.

Since reconstruction was not budgeted for, he said the relevant ministry was considering to utilise the fuel levy to carry out the project.

Still on roads, Mr Molefhi said the Francistown-Matsiloje road project was allocated to a contractor but was terminated before completion and since the contractor was challenging the termination the project could not continue.

He also apprised the councillors on the rehabilitation of the Francistown Prison, which he said although it was delayed, it was at 99 per cent complete.

While it was government’s desire to empower the citizens by awarding them contracts, he oberved that the empowerment initiative had resulted in losses as projects were not completed on time.

He said some contractors neglected projects immediately after getting the mobilisation funds, while some fail to pay their employees.

Mr Molefhi appealed to the councillors to encourage local contractors to take themselves serious and ensure they deliveredc projects as stipulated in their contracts. ENDS