Africa-Press – Botswana. Government has begun a comprehensive expert-led process to develop in the next 12 weeks a National Transformation Programme (NTP) to replace the National Development Plan (NDP).
Addressing State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and board chairpersons on Monday, President Advocate Duma Boko said while NDP was aspirational and vision-based; the NTP would be implementation-based and focused on specific actions by various ministries, agencies, SOEs and parastatals.
“Whereas NDP was a general roadmap of government’s long term commitment to national development, NTP joins the active participation of specified government entities with clear responsibilities and defined assignments,” President Boko said.
He noted that NTP would prioritise transparency and communication through stakeholder engagement for update on progress and challenges.
The President said NTP would determine immediate and long-term projects and identify socioeconomic growth drivers.
He also announced that government would establish a project delivery unit in the Office of the President, which would institutionalise monitoring and evaluation as well as to provide early detection of problems and deployment of necessary interventions.
“It will ensure achievement of targets within set times and budgets. It will lead in the mobilisation of resources to fund the projects,” he said.
He further urged SOEs to seek an approach that fostered global competitiveness and promoted a business environment that was both adaptive and flexible, powered by technology, innovative and creativity in the face of stagnant economic growth.
He said a series of institutional innovation was required as the country took a re-organisation of many of its institutions. “Most of the SOEs are under performing and continue to drain the country’s coffers, this is unacceptable and unsustainable,” he said.
The President further called for an in-depth review and refined mandates indicating the need for SOEs to be full self-financing and sustainable.
“Our SOEs ought to grow into global competitive players in the international markets and those with overlaps in mandates ought to be rationalised and merge,” he said.
All SOEs, President Boko said should have cutting edge technology and attain maximum levels of efficiency, agility and profitability as they formed an integral part of government.
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