Africa-Press – Botswana. Flawed budgeting processes and the shrinking national purse have been blamed for the slow progress of the twin projects of the construction of a new primary school in Kanye and its adjoining staff quarters.
Assistant Minister of Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Mr Ignatius Moswaane said during his tour of the projects on Thursday that had funds been set aside for the projects prior to their inception, the challenges of lack of funds that were being experienced would have been prevented.
“The fact that there was no progress for about five months on account of lack of funds shows that contracts were most likely awarded with no budget in place,” he said.
“This is a sign of flawed budgeting systems and can taint the image of both council and government,” he added.
The assistant minister said the issue of delayed payments as cited by both the contractors and the leadership of Kanye District Council needed to be resolved speedily as it affected the entire construction value chain.
He said with contractors usually hiring equipment from other businesses, delays in paying them would impact those from whom they had sourced equipment.
As for the dwindling national coffers, Mr Moswaane said it was apparent that the situation was beginning to negatively impact ongoing public infrastructure projects.
He however stated that government would intervene and ensure that the two projects were completed without further delays so that the public could benefit from the use of the facilities.
Mr Katlego Chere, site agent from Idea Tank, a contractor tasked with the construction of the school said the challenge with payments from council dampened worker morale, thereby slowing down the pace of project implementation.
Mr Chere however said that with the bulk of the work done with the project now standing at 75 per cent completion, they would be able to carry out the remaining works and complete the project before its scheduled deadline of December as soon as the council secured the funds required.
Managing Director of Black Ruby Properties, Mr Keorapetse Manyaapelo said their staff housing project was sitting at 90 per cent completion.
Mr Manyaapelo said since the start of the payment problems in October last year, they had encountered several challenges such as reluctance by suppliers to issue them materials, as well as loss of personnel as many of their workers had since left.
He said since the project was at its tail-end, they would complete it within two months once funds were availed.
While he concurred that funding challenges had hampered progress at the two project sites, council secretary Mr Masiela Mandoze said council was doing the utmost to secure funds for the remainder of the projects.
Mr Mandoze said council had secured P6 million from which it would be paying the contractors P1 million each in the space of days. He said they were constantly engaging the ministry to release funds to cover the remaining works for the projects, a total of which he said stood at P18 million. “We need P18 million to complete the two projects. And if the current funding issues get resolved, both projects will have been completed by November,” he said.
Once complete, the projects, situated at Kanye’s Losabanyana area will lessen the distance that children residing in the area endure to access primary schools in the village.
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