18 Feb 2020

Serowe Administration Authority (SAA) will give priority to maintenance of primary schools and increased capacity of the local abattoir.

Officially opening the sub-council meeting on Monday, the chairperson of Serowe Sub-council Mr Lesedi Phuthego said in the maintenance of primary schools, much emphasis would be on the replacement of reticulation pipes, which would help in reducing water bills.

He said the abattoir would be refurbished because it was old and some of its equipment were almost obsolete and not meeting expected demand due to the limiting factor of holding kraals, which could only accommodate 20 animals.

He said the department intended to increase holding pens and also upgrade the equipment and machinery in the slaughtering line to automation in the coming financial year so as to accommodate a greater number of animals.

He however said that some of the challenges at the abattoir was that all equipment services were done through outsourcing and the department was experiencing financial constraints.

This, he said, lead to compromised quality service and at times failure to adhere to the required service standards.

Mr Phuthego noted that the size of measles treatment facility was also too small to accommodate an average number of carcasses found with measles parasites, leading to total condemnation of such carcasses. On other issues, he said the roads division was currently carrying out routine maintenance by dry grading internal roads in the sub-district, of which a distance of approximately 67.6km had been achieved in Serowe and the services would be extended to the extension villages.

He said although the intervention of dry grading did not guarantee a long term solution against formation of corrugation, it improved the riding quality of the road for a reasonable period of time.

Mr Phuthego said pothole patching had started in Serowe and 900 square metre had been covered so far.

He said most roads had been assessed during recent rains and had been found to be in a bad state riddled with corrugation, hence the need for a dry grading, wet grading, spot improvement and repair of drainage structures such as culverts, drifts and storm water drainage.

He said currently there were four dry grading projects that were carried out by the Department of Roads within the district, the Mmashoro-Thalamabele 65 km veterinary fence, Mmashoro-Dimajwe 37km, Majwanaadipitse-Topisi 55km projects and Moiyabana- Kalamare 31km project, which was awaiting adjudication.

Mr Phuthego said the department currently had an ESP project of Mabeleapudi-Serule road and was currently at 53 per cent and behind schedule.

For the constituency projects, he said there was construction of a culvert along Mmabahumi- Moiyabana road, which was at 98 per cent and as for the asphalt overlay of Serowe-Palapye 40km road, the department is still waiting a resolution of disputes that rose after the award.

Mr Phuthego further said that SAA income from own sources as at end of January 2020 was P2 340 643 against a target of P3 712 600.

He said the expenditure stood at P101 016 701 against the target of P97 040 233.

Mr Phuthego said the declining revenue support grant coupled with over expenditure spoke volumes about the future of SAA finances as this would lead the council to a deficit.

He emphasised that the over expenditure on the running votes was a call for SAA to come up with ways and measures of generating revenue.  He appealed to councillors to offer suggestions and ideas of revenue generation. ENDS