09 Nov 2021

Government continues to make land available for residential and commercial purposes, President  Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi has said.

President Masisi said this in a State-of -the -Nation Address he delivered on Monday.

To that effect, he indicated that a total 8 661 previously un-serviced plots allocated at different localities were being serviced in Mabutsane, 634 in Lentsweletau, 2 486 in Lesoma/Kazungula, 2 060 in Mogaung, 2 981 in Moshupa and 500 in Kalamare.

He said an additional 1 068 serviced plots would be allocated in Metsimotlhabe by March next year.

He added that government continued to allocate un-serviced residential plots to Batswana to alleviate acute shortage of plots, thus a total of 2 772 residential plots had been allocated.

In addition, he said government continued to prioritise allocation of land to investment agencies such as SPEDU, SEZA, Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH) and Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC), in order to facilitate development of the key economic sectors.

Also, he said government intended to fast track the change of land use and sub-division of land for business purposes.

“In this regard, a deliberate consideration is being given to remove the requirement for council approval for sub-division of land without change of land use, as well as, for the 50 per cent sub-division of farms for other activities,” he said.

Such move, he said would also support the operationalisation of the Economic Inclusion Act.

On e-agriculture, President Masisi indicated that Lobu Farm Digital Transformation project was being implemented to support commercialisation of the small stock subsector.

He added that the Impala farm near Francistown had already replicated Lobu, while Setata was expected to do so in the near future. ENDS