21 Jan 2020

 Kgatleng District Council (KDC) chairperson says it is quite worrisome that almost all traffic lights in Kgatleng are not working and council does not have an adequate budget to maintain them.

Giving a keynote address at a council session, Councillor for Rasesa, Mr Daniel Molokwe said there had been a lot of accidents at the A1/Bokaa-Morwa intersection.

“These accidents, which some resulted in fatalities are due to a design deficiency that does not provide separate slots for right-turning traffic,” he said.

He indicated that the Kgatleng district council was still awaiting funding estimated at P650 000 to upgrade the intersection traffic lights . 

Regard Pilane (fire/Mochudi) and Pilane-Rasesa) intersections, he noted that the controllers were obsolete and needed upgrading at an estimated cost of P200 000.

On other issues, Cllr Molokwe said the construction of Mochudi tribal administration offices project which was shelved in 2008 due to the economic meltdown had been resuscitated.

He said the review for the design had been awarded to Consulting Architects at a cost of P1million and the draft design was submitted to the tribal authority on December 19 last year. Currently, the contracted company, council and bogosi are in discussions on which old structures are to be demolished.

“Tendering for construction is expected to be completed by end of March 2020,” he said.

Cllr Molokwe also spoke on the poverty eradication programme, saying it was implemented by six  departments.

He said a total of 1 209 projects had been funded and 872 projects were operational. “Amongst all the packages offered, backyard tree nursery, bakery and egg layers are doing well,” he noted.

Cllr Molokwe reminded councilors that in May last year, the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry launched a fund that enabled potential entrepreneurs to acquire the pre-requisites needed by financiers before they could consider loan applications.

The council chairperson stated the pre-requisites included valuation reports, building plans, bills of quantities and soil tests.

The fund is facilitated by LEA through a partnership with CEDA who are the financier, he added..

He noted that despite the initiative to support entrepreneurs, the response had been slow in the Kgatleng region.

“Meanwhile, the LEA portfolio has created and retained 160 jobs to date,” he said.

Speaking on the youth development fund, Cllr Molokwe  said a budget of P4million had been approved and so far the office had received 344 applications.He said 101 projects had been screened and adjudicated, 41 of which including the 17 from Mochudi West were approved. ENDS