16 Sep 2014

The North West District Council (NWDC) has managed to make some noticeable strides in infrastructure development, the council chairman, Mr Lathang Molonda said during a full council meeting on September 15.

Councillor Mulonda said during the term, the council had managed to complete a number of developments such as Maun Infrastructure Development Phase I and II, Gumare Infrastructure Development, a bus rank, Maun internal roads, street lighting and installation of traffic lights.

The council also prides itself with the completion of Maun Fire Station, the construction of health facilities at Matshwane, Disaneng and Moeti wards, the upgrading of Beetsha Clinic and also the construction of staff houses across the district just to mention but a few, he said.

He also revealed that other ministries had also carried out massive developmental projects in the district. “We have seen the opening of Shakawe Senior Secondary School, the construction of portable water treatment plant in Maun, as well as the construction and realigning of roads,” he added.

Considering the above milestones, Mr Molonda said it was an indication that their term of 2009-2014 was very special and successful and thus he applauded everyone who took part in such achievements.

He assured the house that the council would continue its efforts to develop people as they are still undertaking new projects such as primary school facilities, backlog eradication programme and electrification of public facilities and the construction of houses for the needy, among others.

The chairman also indicated that the council had made a significant achievement in the reduction of vacant staff positions, adding that staff vacancy rate used to be as high as 15 per cent against the government’s target of less that two per cent; it compromised service delivery.

However, Mr Molonda said they managed to bring down the number to 3.7 per cent, adding that currently the council continues to recruit personnel to fill all vacant posts.

Regarding the challenges, the council encountered, Mr Molonda informed the house that they faced numerous challenges throughout implementation of projects and programmes.

He said the world economic recession adversely affected the implementation of District Development Plan Eight (DDP8) projects and programmes, and even led to some of them being deferred.

Since the recent recovery from recession, Mr Molonda said they managed to commence some of the deferred projects. Another major challenge was the difficult terrain within the district which makes it very difficult to carry out developmental works.

He said though the area was conveniently blessed with surface water and wildlife, it makes accessibility difficult to other areas especially during flooding.

“We have also experienced difficulty in service delivery due to bad roads which often cause vehicle breakdown, frequent disasters such as Foot and Mouth Disease, wildfire and floods that contribute immensely to slow economic growth of our district,” he added.

Mr Molonda observed that the outbreaks often led to diversion of funds that were meant for other important development activities. Ends