06 Dec 2022

 Ngwaketse Land Board plot allocation stands at 26 per cent having allocated 5 823 plots out of its 23 974 target for this financial year.

Addressing a virtual full council session on Monday, Southern District Council chairperson, Mr Thamiso Chabalala said the board was awaiting council and outsourced layouts for more allocations this month.

“The land board is awaiting plots from outsourced layouts and Southern District Council layouts, which will be all allocated this month. The survey of 1 500 plots for Kanye Development Plan Phase 1 has been ongoing for two weeks now,” Mr Chabalala said.

Emphasising  the importance of land in economic diversification,  he implored all the relevant stakeholders to work hard to hasten plot allocation.

“I want to plead with those in charge to give this exercise the best of themselves to make this ambitious goal in land allocation a reality,” he said.

On the secure land title, he said a total of 34 758 applications had been received.

He said even though the re-registration exercise initially had a time frame, it had since been extended indefinitely to make it a continuous process.

“The re-registration is a continuous exercise after Ministry of Lands and Water Affairs took a decision in October 2022 to extend it indefinitely,” he said.

Mr Chabalala expressed  optimism that the revised Constituency Community Projects (CCP) would contribute towards improved road maintenance in the district.

“Given that we have recently been allocated P7 million plus P20 million from the capital provision and road levy fund respectively for development and maintenance of internal roads, I am assured that with this additional CCP funding, the state of our district roads which has been unfriendly to users for quite some time will be greatly improved,” he said.

Councillors heard that   the recent heavy rains had reversed  progress made in road maintenance, building culverts and extension of street lighting.

“This calls for investment on storm water drainage,” said Mr Chabalala.

He attributed the water shortage currently being experienced in the district to unplanned power supply interruptions associated with the rainy season.

“Generally, this has a negative impact on our water supply as we rely on BPC power for most of our operations in the water supply value chain,” he said. ENDS