24 Jan 2022

Maun Administrative Authority (MAA) sub -council Saturday resolved that the District Development Plan 9 and National Development Plan 12 proposals be further discussed at the main North West District council session this week. 

The councilors had earlier expressed concern that consultations were conducted in their respective wards in their absence. 

Consequently, the councilors unanimously agreed that discussions for the development plans 12 be deferred in order to allow them to make contributions to the proposals. 

Senior Assistant Council Secretary Ms Ledule Tando acknowledged that the council inadvertently overlooked councilors as consultations were done under a strict timeline to meet submission date. 

She stated that councilors sit on numerous committees where they were required to be in Maun most of the time, which she said might have contributed to the mistake. 

Ms Tando said it was imperative as a district to propose projects that would compete with other districts across Botswana. 

She indicated that minor projects stood a better chance under Constituency Community Projects (CCP), which was why projects planned under DDP 9 and NDP 12 should be of a larger scope. 

Presenting the projects proposal, MAA principal physical planner Mr Jackalas Jackalas said submissions were done in light of the fact government wanted to turn Maun into a regional centre for North West District. 

He pointed out that major proposals included construction of primary schools in a number of newly gazetted settlements, increasing the number of Junior secondary schools in Maun and provision of a third Senior Secondary School. 

Mr Jackalas said ideally, the district should have 12 Junior Secondary Schools, but realistically they were expecting around five schools during NDP 12. For this reason, it was important that councillors should reach consensus on where the schools should be built. 

The councilors would need to also agree which of the internal roads should be given priority. He said gravelling of minor roads would be catered for in the recurrent budget and CCP.

Mr Jackalas explained that one of the major projects was the reconstruction of the portion of the A3 highway and the Shorobe/Khwai Road. 

He said upgrading of health posts to clinics with maternity wards was a priority area in that proper healthcare was a necessity. He also proposed that youth recreational centres be built across the sub district. ends