17 Feb 2014

The Gaborone City Council has approved recurrent budget estimates of more than P300 million for the 2014/15 financial year, which increased by 19.6 percent over that of the 2013/14 financial year.

The council received P200 million from central government through the Revenue Support Grant and it is expected to raise over P100 million. Presenting the budget at a special full council meeting on February 13, chairperson of the finance committee, Cllr Ndiwaani Kenosi said 70 per cent of the money was for paying employees and the remainder was for running costs.

Cllr Kenosi said the Department of Civil and Mechanical Services would have more than P70 million, followed by the Department of Human Resources with P51 million. The third largest share of P30 million goes to the Department of Public Health.

The Department of Finance and Development will get P28 million, the Department of Architecture and Building Services P26 million and the Department of Social and Community Development P19 million while the rest of the department got less than five  per cent of the total budget.

Cllr Kenosi explained that due to the reduction of the allocation in the revenue support grant against what the council had requested, it must prioritise some of its activities that include maintenance of staff houses and school infrastructure, street lights, traffic lights and roads.

Other priority areas are the relief of destitute persons, waste management, maintenance of council fleet, and procurement of trucks and equipment.

He said challenges include the up keep of the city in line with the relocation of the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) from London to Gaborone, which will ultimately turn Gaborone into a diamond city.

He said there would be an unending maintenance backlog, coupled with vandalism especially on street and traffic lights, while the demand for waste collection would put the council under pressure.

Other challenges were the poor state of council fleet and a rise in utility bills especially at schools and council facilities. He said however that the council would ensure prudent financial management of the meager resources. The council would step up collection of arrears in service levy and property rates and explore way of expanding its revenue base.

In conclusion, Councillor Kenosi explained that the needs by the Gaborone Community have not been adequately met by the current budget allocation because there are many emerging challenges which put pressure on the already limited budget allocation.

However, he implored councillors to deliver on their promises and turn Gaborone into a diamond city as envisaged by everybody. ENDS