03 Mar 2022

About P25 million has been set aside to repair roads that are in a bad state in the Central district, chairperson of Central District Council (CDC), Mr Ketshwereng Galeragwe has said.

Officially opening CDC session in Serowe on Tuesday Mr Galeragwe said out of this amount, P9 million was reserved for Basimane/Tshikinyega road in Serowe, whose tender process would soon be completed.

The remaining P16 million would be shared among the sub-districts, he said.

“This is a very small amount and if it was to go by me I would propose that we implement these projects on a rotational basis so that the impact is felt”, he said.

Mr Galeragwe requested councillors to share ideas on the approach that could be adopted to ensure that funds were used efficiently, noting that where a reasonable amount was committed such as happened in Mahalapye and Shoshong, there were visible results.

“Under the development vote, P15 million has been allocated equally amongst sub-districts with each getting P2 100 000. But the funds will not be enough looking at the high costs of maintaining roads hence the need to look at the approach in allocating these funds,” he said.

He said a project memorandum was currently being prepared for approval by the ministry after which implementation would follow.

Mr Galeragwe explained that the tender for the mega road project connecting Mmandunyane, Shashemooke, Borolong- Chadibe- Mathangwane and including access roads to the villages of Makobo and Natale was at evaluation stage.

He said implementation of this road would go a long way in contributing towards the district’s economic development. Mr Galeragwe said saphalt overlaying of Serowe/Palapye road was at 32.5 per cent against a target of 26.7 per cent.

Regarding other projects, Mr Galeragwe said CDC was implementing two major projects for construction of fully-fledged primary schools in Palapye and Letlhakane.

He informed councillors that the tender for construction of the teachers’ houses in Palapye had been closed and was due for evaluation.

With regard to Letlhakane staff houses, he said the tender was divided into three packages, out of which two have been awarded while the other one had to be retendered due to some omissions regarding preferential schemes made in the document.

He explained the tenders for construction of the schools would be closing on April 8 and that the tenders had been unbundled into packages to cater for different grades of citizen building contractors.

“Preferential treatment shall be applied to local contractors,” he said.

The chairman mentioned that P33 000 000 had been approved for maintenance of education facilities, with all projects reserved for local artisans in the respective areas of residence.

A total P3 300 000 had been approved for electrification of customary courts in five sub-districts.

While the amount may appear too it’s allocation was a great milestone as the facilities should long have ben electrified. Ends