17 Jun 2018

Some civic leaders in the City of Francistown are satisfied with progress in delivering projects through Constituency Development Fund.

Speaking in an interview with BOPA recently, Councillor for Tatitown ward, which include Bluetown and Riverside and White City, Mr Gaethuse Ramolotsana said he was happy with the progress made for all developments in his area.

“I have been in direct contact with the contractors and city council authorities assigned and what I have been assured is that many of the projects in my area should be getting off the ground beginning of next month,” Mr Ramolotsana said.

He admitted that there were delays in starting the projects, which emanated from the tendering process that was strenuous and complicated as some projects had to be re-tendered for on various grounds.

Mr Ramolotsana said during the 2017/18 financial year Tatitown ward had been given funds to erect tower lights, build a multipurpose hall at Bluetown and Ward Development Committees (WDC) offices at White City.

He noted that for the 2018/19 financial year, they had also been awarded funds to erect a state-of-the-art multi-purpose hall at Aerodrome, which would be a partnership between Botsalano, White City and Bluetown WDCs.

“The tower lights project was delayed by the outsourcing of materials from outside the country by the contractor, but the contractor had assured me that by the end of this month, the tower lights job would be starting,” he noted.

He said for the sake of fairness in development distribution, they decided that the first tower light would be suitably positioned at Tatitown Post Office after reneging on the first idea of the Tatitown Bridge next to the old stadium, because there were street lights there.

The civic leader said the second tower light was to be put up at Bluetown by the football grounds crossing the Ntshe River from Monarch, but consultation with ward leaders it was decided that it should be situated at a recreational park in Mazibalori because many internal roads there had no street lights.

“The old community hall in Bluetown is to be demolished to pave way for the new one, while the multi-purpose hall in Aerodrome is awaiting change of land use permit from the lands authority, but that should be soon,” he said.
Councillor for Monarch South, Ms Baboni Mosalagae also said he was satisfied with the progress being made to advance the upcoming developments in her area.

“We had delays of course. Our Member of Parliament, Mr Ignatius Moswaane had questioned the criteria used to price some projects and asked  for the suspension of all tendering processes in exchange for assurance that only young people in his

Francistown West constituency would be allowed to tender,” Ms Mosalagae explained.

In some instances, she narrated, the price tag to renovate the old Monarch Beer Garden and turn it into a market place with cubicles was over a million pula.

“What kind of renovation would cost more than a million pula with our beer garden?

The contractor had to be told to reduce the price,” she noted.

She said other projects that they had problems with was the LA2 house for the WDC as its construction cost was also overly priced. As such they had to negotiate for price reduction too. ENDS