28 Mar 2019

The Southern District Council (SDC) chairperson, Mr Alec Seametso desires his council to become a model of public private partnership (PPP) .

Mr Seametso said this during the on-going council meeting in Kanye.

He said two PPP projects being Mongala and Faza malls were sustainable and could be a model for many.

Mr Seametso explained that the two malls had not only given Kanye a facelift but also created employment opportunities for many.

He said the two projects contributed significantly to the Council Own Source of Revenue (COSR). 

SDC chairman said P2, 909,558.14 had been collected in lease rentals since inception of the two projects.

Be that as it may, he shared that the council had experienced teething problems regarding implementation of the PPP policy and implementation framework. 

This he said, negatively affected  implementation of the proposed new PPP projects.

Nonetheless, he revealed that they were at the final stage of developing terms and references for PPP and Investment committee which would consider all project proposals, business or social partnerships they had been planning to do as a district.

Meanwhile, Mr Seametso challenged councillors to come up with constituency proposals that would have a positive, long lasting impact on the lives of the constituents rather than piece meal projects that would not get them far enough.

He had therefore called for integrated developments and the promotion of regional planning, adding they would review the 2019/20 project proposals if the Council so wished.

Mr Seametso explained that the fund was aimed at closing the gap in funding for projects that would not normally be included in the development plan.

He said it was critical to assess whether or not the programme has achieved its intended purpose, revealing that 22 projects have not started yet while 28 were on-going from the 2017/18 financial year. 

He added that most of the 2018/19 projects were at mobilization stage.

Mr Seametso further explained that the situation was created by the nature of projects they had approved for implementation against the resources they had in hand. ENDS