05 Aug 2018

Member of Parliament for Shashe West, Mr Fidelis Molao has informed Semitwe residents that government follows the national development plan in allocating development projects to villages.

He said this during a kgotla meeting held at the village recently, where residents complained that they were informed a year ago that their clinic would be started this financial year. However, the financial year has long started and nothing was happening while at the same time they had not been given any update.Mr Molao, who is also Assistant Minister of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology explained that for every development planned for a particular area, it could take a long time for it to be done, but that it would be done within the time frame of the national development plan.

He highlighted that to date, government had started to undertake projects in NPD11 which would last until 2023, adding that all projects in NDP 11 would be done unless there were challenges of financial constraints.

Updating them on the planned clinic, he noted that the Ministry of Health and Wellness had anticipated that the budget for this financial year would be enough to cover projects this year, but that unfortunately it did not happen.

He pointed out that for this financial year, they managed to get funds for the design work. He noted that the project would commence in 2019/2020.Furthermore, Mr Molao emphasised that developments not included in NDP would be done through the constituency fund. He stated that through the money, villages should ensure that they considered developments projects which would be covered within a short time since the money was dispersed annually.

In addition, he asserted that constituency fund projects were supervised by council in partnership with the Village Development Committee (VDC). He said the VDC should liaise with the council on what steps to take further.

Mr Molao said the Ntimbale Dam water project had been completed and implored them to participate in the consultation process since their input was needed. ENDS