Cllrs unimpressed with ARC tariffs

Onalenna Kelebeile | Friday February 23, 2018 17:11

 

The town’s civic leaders have since resolved to seek advice from the council’s technical team that would then give feedback to the physical planning committee to report to the council.

The feedback from the ministry seemed to coincide with that of the Architects Registration Council (ARC) that justifies the tariffs. The councillors are worried that the new tariffs will not be affordable for the community.

They said the fact that they are not listened to is a sign that the ministry is no satisfactorily addressing the issue and that local authorities have been rendered as toothless dogs that cannot advice on policy matters.

While some councilors suggested that the law be suspended to allow for the issue to be addressed they find themselves in a dilemma because councils have no powers to suspend an Act of parliament. 

There has also been a serious outcry by players in the architectural industry that the Act automatically throws them out of business.

Last year council wrote to the ministry decrying high architectural services charges and requesting it to clarify how the Act will protect the public from such exorbitant fees for the drawing-up of plans and brought to the ministry’s attention the fact that the apparent reduction in the rate of submission of development plans or building permission is due to the fees for architectural services which are high.

Council also observed that the charges are stifling developments.

The feedback that council received from the ARC through the ministry explains that the slow rate of submission of development plans in Selebi-Phikwe is due partly to the general depression in the property market countrywide which, in the case of Selebi-Phikwe region, has been exacerbated by the sustained and low growth of the town’s economy over the years and the ultimate closure of the BCL mine and other mines in the north eastern part of the country.

The ARC chairperson, Goitsemodimo Manowe further explained that another factor may be the effect of regulations, which requires time for adjustment by all actors and the likelihood that some unscrupulous individuals in and outside the local government may be taking advantage of the infancy of the transformation process or frustrating it.

He noted that it cannot be concluded that the slow rate of submission of development plans is primarily or solely attributable to fees for architectural services and further maintained that framework serves to protect the public interest as far as the delivery of architectural services and fees are concerned.   

Manowe explained that it has become apparent from the full council session he addressed previously, that there was lack of knowledge and understanding on the use of the tariff of fees and that the amount of fees anticipated were not consistent with the correct application of the tariff.

“This according to our assessment is due to the application of the Cost-Based Fee (CBF)as per the formula and the fee calculation in isolation not in accordance with the relevant framework.”

He further explained in the letter that the stated presumptions are unfounded considering that the CBF tariff table for Botswana generally yields fees that are lower compared to those in the region therefore not exorbitant by comparison.

“The tariff table that has been approved by government is also an adaptation without drastic changes, for the public sector- government and state owned enterprises, of the fee structure that has prevailed for years for the procurement of professional architectural services,” he said.

Manowe said the Act and the framework provide for services to be rendered by technologists and draftspersons at lower construction cost brackets based on time based fee and at rates much lower than that of architects yielding fees that are comparable to those before regulation and responding to the issue of affordability at the lower income spectrum.

“The framework further provides for competitive fee bidding for any size of project based on hourly rate as an alternative to the cost based fee,” he explained.