08 Mar 2015

Central District Council (CDC) chairperson, Mr Peter Williams says the council is implementing two projects which are at different completion stages.

Addressing a full council meeting, Mr Williams said the two projects were the construction of the Palapye bus rank and Bobonong internal roads as well as associated off site drainage works.

He explained that the Palapye bus rank was 98 per cent complete, adding that the contractor was attending to some finishing touches before handing it over. On municipal services, Mr Williams said the CDC had during the last four decades experienced phenomenal investment in infrastructure development in the majority of its villages.

He said the increase in infrastructure development and population in the district led to the construction of the Palapye fire station.

Mr Williams explained that the construction of the fire station did not include a housing component. He added that the construction of staff houses had been awarded over P5 million, and that the contractor had commenced work and completion was expected in December 2015.

On the Ipelegeng programme, Mr Williams said since the inception of the programme the district had focused on alleviating accommodation shortages in rural areas by constructing staff houses, government offices and maintenance of public facilities.

He said the 2015/16 Ipelegeng programme was expected to commence on April 1^st, 2015 and that the preparation of project memoranda was ongoing.

Mr Williams said the district was using the current year’s ceiling while awaiting the release of the 2015/16 budget allocation which would be availed after the presentation of the ministry’s budget to Parliament.

On issues of social and community development, he said as of January 2015 beneficiaries were provided with safety nets and support. 

He said 12 871 were orphaned children, 12 271 destitute persons, 11 528 needy students while 204 community based care patients and 599 children in need of care.

Mr Williams also said the department provided safety nets to 1 721 remote area pupils accommodated in 10 Rural Area Development Programme (RADP) hostels.

He said the department had also been assisting orphans and vulnerable and remote area students who completed secondary education to access post-secondary education through the special dispensation programme. ENDS