23 May 2019

The Ministry of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services has no plans to service land in Jwaneng during the eleventh National Development Plan (NDP 11).

Assistant Minister Itumeleng Moipisi said this when addressing Jwaneng full council session on Wednesday.

He said the ministry carried out land servicing in the township during the 2010/2011 financial year at Unit 8, where some residential plots had already been allocated.

He, however, indicated that government was planning to review NDP 11 and promised to take up the councillors’ plea of a need to service more land in the township to be considered among the competing priorities in NDP 11.

The assistant minister also admitted that it was vital to service land in Jwaneng especially that investors had indicated interest in investing in the town.

Mr Moipisi also shared a concern with councillors that delays in allocating land, especially commercial one delayed the town’s economic growth, but said the ministry still needed to consult those who had been allocated land before it could be repossessed.

“We are aware that some people have been allocated business plots many years back and some of the plots have even surpassed the time limit set for them to have been developed, but nonetheless, consultations have to be done before it is repossessed from them to get their reason for failure to develop,” he said.

He said as per procedure, an exercise would be undertaken to engage allottees of the 15 undeveloped plots at Jwaneng CBD through advertisement of their names before mid-June.

Mr Moipisi also indicated that his ministry allocated land in a transparent manner, but added that citizens were free to report any suspicious allocations to relevant authorities.

Concerning delay in surveying and servicing land for churches enclave, Mr Moipisi indicated that cadastral surveying of the plan was done in 2016, but that the initially approved plan had to be amended to accommodate some existing developments that were discovered during surveying and compilation of data in 2017.

On the issue of industrial and commercial plots that are currently lying undeveloped in Jwaneng, Mr Moipisi said 47 out of the 57 allottees that had not yet developed were cautioned on non-compliance, with some having applied for extension of time.

He also said there had been a challenge of reaching the other allottees due to old and redundant addresses.

The minister was addressing the council after it requested his ministry to address it pertaining to land issues in Jwaneng, among them unserviced residential land and delay in allocation of commercial plots at the CBD extension.

Councillors also wanted to be addressed on delays in surveying and land servicing of churches enclave and undeveloped allocated industrial and commercial plots in the town. ENDS