22 Nov 2018

Mayor of Selebi Phikwe Mr Molosiwa Molosiwa says there is progress regarding efforts to resuscitate the economy of the town and the SPEDU region.  

He said companies working hand in hand with SPEDU and the Selebi Phikwe Town Council (SPTC) are expected to invest approximately P1.793 billion in the town. He said out of the said amount. P57.6 million will be financed through CEDA and Botswana Development Corporation (BDC), while the rest, P1.135 billion will be financed through government coffers.

He said this when giving a state-of-the-town address, during a full council meeting on Tuesday. He explained that the funds will fund projects pursued by government in areas of agriculture and infrastructure development. Also, he said 50 companies involved with SPEDU which are at various stages of development are among the companies or projects that will contribute investment in the town.

He said among the projects, 21 are at an advanced stage of implementation.

He said 14 of the companies are citizen-owned trading in Information Technology (IT), Manufacturing, Agriculture and Construction while five are foreign owned companies venturing in the same disciplines.

He said some of the projects have been offered BDC factory shells. To date, he explained that 1 239 jobs have been created surpassing the target of 770 planned to be achieved by the end of third quarter of this financial year.b On implementation of constituency funding projects for the 2017/2018 financial year, Mayor Molosiwa said the projects had been completed except for the maintenance of Botshabelo Primary School and construction of a kgotla shelter at Botshabelo customary Court. He said the projects would be complete concurrently with implementation of 16 projects planned for the 2018/2019 financial year.

He said so far three projects under the 2018/2019 financial year have commenced while the rest are at different stages of the tendering process.

Mr Molosiwa also indicated that regarding the maintenance of roads in the town, five projects for the 2018/2019 financial year are currently at the evaluation stage.

He said that the SPTC benefitted P10 million under the road levy programme for the road maintenance projects. He stated that the SPTC would also install solar tower lights at Selebi Phikwe east and west constituencies through constituency funding.

On other issues, Mr Molosiwa expressed concern about the rate at which people are defaulting on council service levy and rates while at the same time expecting the town to deliver on its mandate.

He said a total rates arrears owed to the council amount to over P14.7 million as at October 2018 while service levy arreas amount to over P5 million.

He said efforts have previously been made to inform clients through house to house campaigns, SMS alerts and letter notifications, but a very low response was received. Ends