09 Feb 2014

Some Members of Parliament have applauded government for prioritising project implementation. 

Debating the budget speech in Parliament on February 6, Member of Parliament for Mahalapye West, Mr Bernard Bolele said the delay in completing projects such as the expansion of Sir Seretse Khama Airport, Serowe and Francistown stadia and Palapye Police Station had resulted in loss of government revenue.

He said some of the completed projects were already falling apart, citing the new Mahalapye police station and Mahalapye district hospital.

MP Bolele expressed his gratitude for the government to identify two thematic areas of infrastructure development and employment creation as Mahalapye was one of the areas affected by unemployment.

He said Botswana Railways had for a long time provided employment to Mahalapye community and other than that there had not been any other project that had benefited the community in this regard.

Regarding infrastructure development, he appreciated the road network in Mahalapye, however he decried lack of maintenance of those roads, citing Mahalapye bus rank which he said was a risk to motorists and pedestrians.

Furthermore, Mr Bolele said infrastructure in certain schools in Mahalapye was dilapidated hence the need for the government to fix problems that currently exist before undertaking new projects.

For his part, Member of Parliament for Molepolole South, Mr Daniel Kwelagobe commended the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Mr Kenneth Matambo for a comprehensive budget, which he said incorporated many desired things.

However, he raised a concern over lack of coordination of government programmes geared towards poverty alleviation.

Different ministries were offering various programmes aimed at improving the livelihoods of Batswana but there was no coordination to ensure that people benefit from these programmes, he said.

Poverty eradication programme in particular, he said was faced with challenges that included amongst others delay in the assessment of beneficiaries.

He also thanked the government for cluster fencing initiative, which he said deterred livestock from destroying crops.

The Molepolole South MP proposed that government should consider replacing the cluster fencing component under ISPAAD with ALDEP one to assist farmers who cannot be clustered so that they could be assisted with 85 per cent grant and contribute only 15 per cent in kind.

The ISPAAD revised cluster fencing package allows individual farmers who do not have neighboring farms bordering them or cannot be clustered to be assisted with fencing material at 50 per cent subsidy.

The package also provided for groups of farmers with fields less than 150ha to be assisted with fencing material at 50 per cent subsidy.

Mr Kwelagobe said because some farmers could not afford the 50 per cent contribution, their fields were left unfenced resulting in livestock destroying their crops, adding that this ultimately resulted in poverty.

He said government invested a lot of money on agriculture as such should protect this investment. On horticulture development under ISPAAD, he said water was a critical component in this area as such there should be an element of water development. ENDS