16 Jul 2024

Tsabong District councillors have given a thumbs up to proposed District Development Plan 9 (DDP9) and National Development Plan 12 (NDP12) projects.

Presenting on the proposed projects during a special full council meeting on Thursday, principal council economist, Ms Boitumelo Leshiba said the DDP 9 consultations were done in a bottom up planning approach where communities were given an opportunity to present their projects proposals from June 10-to 21, 2024 under the theme: Innovating for Economic Growth.

She said the theme guided them to look at high impact projects in the community to foster economic growth during grading where planners selected projects following a guiding tool that gauged viability of a project.

 Ms Leshiba explained that three tools entailed assessing the result logic framework, concept note and the third stage which employed metrics used to score projects.

 “These are the approved tools that rate the projects during implementation and the impact of the project after completion on the community,” she said.

According to Ms Leshiba, after applying the scoring tool, the adopted proposed DDP9 projects for Tsabong District included; construction of 53-bed Tsabong Primary hospital, construction of Bokspits-Two Rivers road, construction of Khuis-Khawa road, construction of Kokotsha-Tsabong-McCarthy’s Rust road, construction of Bray-Mmathethe road, Werda wellfield, construction of storage facilities and water transfer schemes to Makopong, Draihoek, Kokotsha and Bray, expansion of internet bandwidth in the district, land servicing of industrial plots in Tsabong. Ms Lesiba noted  that Tsabong had been declared a planning area.

She said other DDP9 projects included upgrading of water desalination plant in BORAVAST cluster, construction of solar plant to supply power in Tsabong, construction of sewage line in Tsabong planning area, construction of service centres at Bokspits, Middlepits and Werda, construction of an airstrip at Logaganeng ward at Maubelo, and upgrading of Khawa health post to clinic with maternity.

The economic planner noted that projects were selected looking at critical key challenges in the district such as unemployment, poor road network connectivity, saline water and water quality, insufficient communication networks, limited entrepreneurship skills and attraction of investors, high cost of goods and services, frequent power cuts, social ills -teenage pregnancy, child abuse, extreme temperatures, vast of the district, poverty and under five years malnutrition, drought, veld fires, invasive plant species such as sexanana and mongana. 

Commenting on the proposals, Bogogobo/Kolonkwaneng councillor, Mr Ikitseng Dipone called for airstrip construction proposed for Logaganeng to rather be built at Middlepits catchment area.

 He reasoned that it would cater for tourists who would enter the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park through the Khawa gate, currently under construction.

 Mr Dipone said if moved there it would complement government efforts of boosting tourism sector by reducing the distance travelled by tourists from Tsabong to Khawa gate. He added that such development would grow the tourism value chains and create employment.

Omaweneno/ Kisa/ Maralaleng councillor, Mr Ronald Baitsewe also supported relocation of the airstrip from Tsabong to Logaganeng as it was currently positioned on limited space and was in the middle of the village which posed risks.

Middlepits/Khuis councillor Mr Tshwarelo Mmoloki suggested that instead of airstrip construction at Logaganeng, a fully-fledged airport should be constructed. However, Tsabong South councillor Mr John Lentshikang reasoned that it would not be ideal to build an airport as it would take many years to construct and would require substantial funds, which were not available.

For his part, Tsabong East councillor, Mr Peter Megano called for inclusion of food resources warehouse expansion in DDP9, arguing that the current one was insufficient.

He said a livestock management concentration center should have also been included as well as phase II internal roads projects in Tsabong road network.

Makopong/Draihoek councillor, Mr Moses Chimbombi expressed concern that some key projects in the district such as the Tsabong Multispecies Abattoir were managed from Gaborone. This, he said was a challenge as the management model caused delays and project cost over runs.

 He called for project managers to be stationed at localities where projects were constructed to ensure accountability.

Tsabong District council chairperson, Mr Hendrick Jacobs appreciated adoption of the development manager model where projects accountability would be under Ministry of Transport and Public Works.

 He said such infrastructure developments needed oversight works committees at council level and therefore 10 councillors had been selected to sit in the oversight committee. Ends