Property valuations to hike GCC rates

FREDERICK KEBADIRETSE
Staff Writer | Friday November 12, 2010 00:00

 

The Director of Finance and Procurement at the Ministry, Catherine Marakalala, said this yesterday before the signing of a revenue collection solution partnership between the Gaborone City Council (GCC) and First National Bank Botswana (FNBB) at GCC.

Marakalala, speaking on behalf of permanent secretary, Thato Raphaka, said the ministry has just completed the valuation roll for Zone A on the western side of the railway line, while Zone B, in the east is expected to be completed towards the end of the year.  Kwena Properties is doing the valuation. She said the collaboration between GCC and FNBB came at the right time because the sharp increase in property rates will mean more burdens for the council in terms of collecting payments.

'This valuation of properties will automatically result in sharp increase of GCC rates bill by more than 150 percent which will bring challenges of capacity to the city council,' Marakalala said.

She also commended GCC for heeding words of the President when addressing the council in June this year where he called on councils to come up with innovative ways of collecting debts and also cultivate and nurture the willingness of Gaborone residents to pay for the services and debts.

The revenue collection partnership that was signed will enable the council clients to pay their debts directly into the GCC account at any FNBB branch countrywide.

This is expected to help reduce the money owed to the city council amounting to P58million in tax.According to Mayor Veronica Lesole, the level of arrears on the money owed to the council has been steadily increasing for a very long time resulting in huge budget deficits thus hindering the delivery services of the council.

She said they have exhausted all efforts to help improve the situation but this has borne little or no fruits at all.Lesole said they hoped the new Public-Private Partnership (PPP) initiative will help turn around the council's fortunes with regards to revenue collection.

'Clients have expressed dissatisfaction with the current method of payments where they had to come to the council to collect their balance, and then go to the revenue offices to pay. It will be much easier now, as they will have the freedom to pay their bills wherever there is an FNB branch and we hope it will help greatly reduce the amount owed to the council,' she said.

For her part, FNBB Public Sector Segment head, Yolisa Phillips-Lejowa, said they are very delighted to be part of the initiative and they are hoping to see positive results very soon.  She said through the initiative, they will help to ease the burden of revenue collection from the council so that it can focus on delivering on other services to the city residents.  Phillips-Lejowa said they also hope that the residents will embrace the new initiative because it is there for them to bolster efficiency in the revenue collection process.

'Today marks the beginning of a long lasting relationship between FNBB and GCC, we hope to see a good working relationship between the council and the residents,' she said.In the partnership, customers will have freedom to service their debts through direct credit into the council account, cell phone and Internet banking or even through FNB Automated Teller Machines.