UN-SERVICED LAND HAMPERS INVESTMENT IN FRANCISTOWN

Patricia Edwin | Monday February 17, 2014 15:55

In an interview with The Monitor, Kgalajwe said the city has abundant land, which however is un-serviced.

Apparently, potential investors have identified lack of serviced land as their stumbling block in their quest to put up companies in Botswana, Francistown included.

Kgalajwe said last year Francistown City Council (FCC) proposed that the central government allocate un-serviced land, but the government, which advised them to engage private companies that could help them with servicing of the land, swiftly rebuffed their request.

The thirst for investment in Francistown has never been greater and FCC is currently making concerted efforts to lure investors to the city, but they are now facing the conundrum as they can only allocate serviced land.

Speaking on land availability for a development plan, Kgalajwe said that land available for expansion of the city is 4,714.2 hectares and that there were some other areas within the old Francistown that can be re-developed.

He said that in the land availability development plan eight expansion blocks have been found.  “These expansion blocks amount to 4,236 hectares for residential development at Gerald Estates and 200 hectares has been reserved as expansion of the Francistown Airport,” he said.

He further said that 384 hectares has been zoned for a city park close to the airport and also a plot for a private university has been provided.

The mayor also said that there is land available for industrial purposes during the plan, which is measured at 1,090.2 hectares.

“There is 96 hectares of land for local centres, 292 hectares for a sports village and 270 hectares for a golf course,” said the mayor.

He said that the city of Francistown has land but the only struggle they are facing is that the land is not serviced.

He said that they would take the government’s advice and engage private partners to help them service the land.

“We have to first of all look at what they want as payment to service the land because some of them can want land in return which is how so many people ended up with so much private land in the first place,” he said.

He further added that so far their plan is behind schedule in terms of implementation due to lack of funds.

“Central Business district block should be detailed, surveyed, serviced and allocated for development to boost the economy of Francistown,” he said. He said that other blocks should also be treated and allocated for development in order to increase the housing stock in the city.  In the recently delivered budget speech, the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Kenneth Matambo said that provision of serviced land is a prerequisite for many types of investment, which involves building of factories and so on. He further said that investors and some external agencies have identified shortage of serviced land as a constraint to investment in this country.

“To improve delivery of serviced land government is in the process of developing guidelines for a Public Private Participation (PPP) strategy in land servicing. The implementation of the guidelines is expected to start during the 2014/15 financial year,” he said during the budget.  Matambo further said that government has embarked on the exercise of national land registration through the Land Administration, Procedures, Capacity and Systems (LAPCAS) project. 

“It is expected that, apart from improving land management, this exercise will enable tribal land holders to use their land as collateral and thus enhance borrowing for investment in productive activities,” he said.  He also said that the approval of the Town and Country Planning Bill in April 2013 has led to a review of the current Land Tribunal legislation so that it could cater for planning appeals.

“The intention is to commence implementation of both the Revised Town and Country Planning Act and the Land Tribunal Act at the beginning of the 2014/15 financial year,” added the minister. That being said cities such as Francistown are still crying about the lack and unavailability of serviced land.