LED to enhance economic growth

Lindiwe Mozola | Friday January 23, 2015 18:13

 

A deputy director in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Masego Mooketsi said at Adansonia Hotel in Francistown this week that they have come up with a draft LED framework on financing capital investment for local economic growth to create more jobs.

Addressing the Botswana Association of Local Authorities (BALA) national conference on Wednesday, she said that the ministry will fund communities looking at factors such as population, literacy, poverty levels and the size of administrative manpower.

She stated that players in the informal sector always suffer because they do not have a place to operate from yet they are the ones that drive the economy. She said it was essential that the players are put in a better place to benefit from LED. “It is always sad to see the street vendors suffering due to allocation of plots yet they are the very same people that drive LED,” Mooketsi stated.

She indicated that local authorities should build effective partnerships with the private sector and other development agents to enhance their economic growth because they have the potential to diversify the economy, create jobs, alleviate poverty and reduce dependence on government.

Mooketsi said they are obliged to identify possible linkages between different industries and plan to develop them for the local businesses to support each other for the benefit of the communities. Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government, Molefi Keaja agreed that it was important to enhance and empower local communities. He said the ministry will play a pivotal role in driving LED to diversify Botswana’s economy and create jobs.