Mayor invites partnership in development

The Gaborone City Council Mayor, Kagiso Thutlwe has this week urged his Council to use the Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) strategy to sufficiently finance the City’s internal roads.

Thutlwe acknowledged that maintenance work was insufficient as a solution to the current problems as most roads needed total reconstruction, therefore calling for private sector to consider partnering with GCC to deliver the projects as government funding was not enough to meet their needs.

This came after his displeasure at the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development which he accused of short circuiting and diverting some of the funds meant for GCC developments to other districts.

“We must show our displeasure to the Ministry for giving us an amount of P14.8million which was sourced from the fuel levy. I personally went to the Office of the President to request for funding for our internal roads to augment our low budget, and OP agreed to our request,” revealed Thutlwe to the full Council.

He stressed that, “This machiavellian tendency by the Ministry of Local government must be shunned and condemned. Gaborone people have been robbed day light by the said Ministry by diverting funds meant for them to other districts.”

In the meantime, the Mayor has promised that they will continue to carry out pothole patching on the affected roads. The budget for the pothole patching is said to be P4.2million. The Council will also continue to pave some roads in order to make them more user friendly.