24 Sep 2013

The Mayor of Gaborone, Mr Haskins Nkaigwa, has called on government to double its efforts in turning the capital city into an international diamond hub.

Addressing the third session of the full council meeting in Gaborone on September 23, Mr Nkaigwa said his council faced numerous challenges in its endeavour of turning the city into an international diamond trading centre.

Mr Nkaigwa said following the relocation of Diamond Trading Company International in Gaborone there was need to position the city as one of the world diamond destination centers because diamonds contributed 75 per cent of government revenue.

He said there was need to improve the road network, street lightning in the city, combat the rising armed robberies and the increased livestock that continue to roam streets of Gaborone. He said lack of street lights in the Central Business District (CBD) was also a major concern.
“There is need for a special dispensation from government to fund these projects so that they can be expedited,” he said.

Mr Nkaigwa also said there was need for government to expedite the policy on plastic levy, as no revenue was remitted to government while customers continued to pay for plastics. He said the levy would come handy in addressing the challenges bedeviling the council in waste management.

The mayor also called government to descentralise the road levy to local authorities so as to increase their budgets for the up keep of roads in their respective jurisdictions.

“We continue to struggle to maintain and construct new roads due to insufficient funds,” he said. “Therefore, it is now time to make legislative changes that will help in addressing what has failed us as a government for over 47 years.” The mayor also briefed councillors about the consultancy of the conceptual design and supervision for traffic signals improvement and establishment of centralised traffic control funded by the World Bank that started on June 25.

He said the project would come up with preventative and corrective maintenance of traffic lights in Gaborone, replacement of out-dated traffic lights controllers as well as installation of traffic control and traffic cameras on some road corridors.
Mr Nkaigwa said these developments together with other traffic management initiatives were expected to yield positive result in reducing traffic congestion at major intersections in the city. ENDS