Africa-Press – Botswana. Tlokweng residents have been told that the village’s dire water situation will be addressed during the transitional national development plan period.
Area MP, Mr Thulagano Segokgo, told a kgolta meeting at Tlokweng’s Lesunyaneng Ward Tuesday that the situation would be addressed under the Greater Gaborone water improvement project.
“The water situation in Tlokweng is a concern that we are all aware of, but we are hopeful that the village will be assisted through the said project,” he said.
On stormwater drainage, Mr Segokgo acknowledged that the village had grown and therefore needed such a project.
“The mapping that was done around 1998 indicated that it would cost around P25 million to construct stormwater drainage in Tlokweng.
The village has expanded a lot since then and now there is need for a new mapping and obviously the prices have drastically increased,” he said.
Mr Segokgo said all future road construction projects would have a storm water drainage component.
On other developments, the legislator informed residents that phase one of the recreational park construction was finally complete after protracted challenges with the contractor.
“We are currently in phase two which will be completed in July, after which the park will be opened for partial use. This will help raise some funds for the completion of the final phase,” he said.
Mr Segokgo advised the council and other stakeholders to monitor the park’s usage.
On other issues, the MP advised farmers to form advocacy groups to handle issues such as determining prices for their products.
He was responding to a suggestion from a resident, Mr Edward Ramsden, that government should regulate retail prices, especially for farm products to protect farmers from exploitation.“At the moment, retailers buy farm produce for close to nothing from farmers and sell them at inflated prices. This is one reason people are reluctant to go into farming,” he said.
Other residents applauded government’s decision to make Tlokweng a fully fledged district, independent from Ramotswa, saying that would make it easier for them to monitor their councillors’ performance.
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