13 Mar 2014

Kweneng District Council (KDC) has approved the draft development plan for Molepolole.

The plan was, however, approved on condition that the department of environmental affairs (DEA) would deal with issues of environmental impact assessment (EIA).

Briefing councilors during a full council meeting, council secretary, Mr Wazha Tema said after a discussion between the DEA and KDC, it was observed that some issues lacked evidence of stakeholder consultations. DEA also indicated that there was need to consult strategic land right owners such as the museum, quarry owners and borehole owners.

Mr Tema told councilors that the counsultants (Mosienyane and Partners International) were ordered to submit consultation evidence adding that in the event that there was no evidence, the consultant was instructed to carry out the consultations and submit evidence the beginning of March.

He stated that the objectives of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) were to pro-actively inform the development plan, focus on the maintenance and enhancement of a chosen level of environmental quality rather than on minimising individual impacts and also identify the opportunities and constraints which the environment places on development.

The council secretary said SEA was a systematic process of predicting and evaluating environmental effects of implementing a plan or other strategic actions in order to ensure that these effects are appropriately addressed at the earliest stages of decision-making at par with economic and social considerations.

Mr Tema noted that the kind of developments that would occur in Molepolole planning area would be determined by the implementation of the development plan.

The draft plan, which is at its final development stage, relies heavily on SEA which plays a very critical role and after its approval it would be presented to other boards.

Commenting, councilors collectively agreed with the consultants’ report and proposed that the Central Business District be situated at Borakalalo ward. Ends