14 Mar 2021

Parliament on Thursday approved the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing’s budget for the 2021/22 financial year.

The Minister, Mr Mmusi Kgafela had proposed a budget of P705 million from which P497m was earmarked for recurrent and P208m was for development.

Lerala-Maunatlala MP, Mr  Sethabelo Modukanele urged the minister to meet with local contractors to listen to address their concerns, saying Batswana used to own Category E construction companies but had disappeared into oblivion.

He welcomed the idea of unbundling projects to enable more construction companies to be engaged.

MP Modukanele said he was happy Moeng College would be maintained and he urged the minister to ensure the project was done within stipulated time.

He also suggested that maintenance for both primary and secondary schools should be done by one ministry.

Goodhope-Mabule MP, Mr  Eric Molale said there should be a standard housing for all public service employees to eliminate ‘envious comparisons’, adding they should find the most efficient and cost effective way to provide accommodation.

He further said the government should only build houses for public officers in rural areas and rent from the private cities in urban and major villages.

The MP urged Minister Kgafela to consider using Kalahari brick, saying it has been certified by Botswana Bureau of Standards and currently used to construct Moshupa Primary Hospital. He said through this, the government would be ‘killing two bulls with one bullet’, developing the country while at the same time contributing towards poverty eradication.

He also wondered what happened to the big local construction companies, saying they were able to move from Category C to E through deliberate steps undertaken by the government but today the sector was dominated by foreign companies.

Maun East MP, Mr Dumelang Saleshando urged the minister to set targets, adding he welcomed the decision by the minister to declare housing as a right.

He further urged the minister to come up with measures to protect home owners from lowing their houses due to financial constraints emanating from loss of income due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also called for the continuation of the Tenant Purchasing Scheme and Sectional Titles.

For his part, MP Sam Brooks said the police station in Bokspits had to be maintained as it had been damaged by strong winds.

He further decried the poor state of public service offices and lack of accommodation for public officers working in his district.

MP Brooks was happy the BHC housing project was coming to an end and said he was happy 10 additional houses would be built in the next financial year.

However, the MP said he was concerned that the projects were undertaken by Gaborone based contractors, leaving Kgalagadi companies as spectators.

Shoshong MP, Mr Aubrey Lesaso welcomed the decision to maintain public buildings although the minister was working on a tight budget.

He suggested that all housing programmes, SHHA, poverty housing and others should be under a single authority like Rural Housing Department.

MP Lesaso also called for the establishment of a Project Performance Investigating Unit to ensure strict measures were taken against construction companies who either abandoned the project after receiving mobilisation fee or fail to complete the project within time and on budget.

He said Dibete clinic was currently under construction but the access road had not yet been planned for together with provision for electricity.

MP Lesaso decried the poor state of Shoshong Senior Secondary School,  saying 45 pupils affected by COVID-19 did not have enough resources to be isolated and be able to continue with their studies.

Mahalapye MP David Tshere said despite the big numbers of people employed in the construction industry, many of the employees were unable to improve their lives given the nature of their job.

He said therefore government should come up with a payment structure.

MP Tshere said there had been complaints about the turnkey project as incomplete projects were handed to beneficiaries who do not have the means to finance their houses.

He further said the engineers and architects registration fees were steep.

Responding to the comments, the minister said the obstacle to sell sectional titles would be removed as currently foreigners were allowed to purchase the flats they occupied. He further said it was impossible to set targets due to challenges they encountered saying however they had objectives which they almost met.

On Home Ownership Protection Programme, he said it was a good idea but it depended on whether financial institutions would embrace it. Ends