GCC spends millions servicing private land

EPHRAIM KEORENG
Staff Writer | Wednesday April 13, 2011 00:00

GCC was taken to task last week by councillor Seabelo Thekiso who wanted to know under what authority the council was maintaining privately owned infrastructure. In effect the civic leader was asking why GCC was using public funds to service infrastructure such as sewer lines, road networks, open spaces and street lighting in freehold land at Phakalane Estates and Gaborone North.

Thekiso also wanted to know whether these services had been legally transferred to GCC. The GCC is said to have prepared a structure plan for Gaborone North to guide orderly developments in that area to avoid haphazard subdivision, which would have made infrastructure reticulation a nightmare.

'Who is going to do the reticulation? If it is GCC, under which policy document or law will that exercise be done because the current scenario is that council only services government owned land and privately owned estates such as Phakalane and Sethoa are responsible for the outlay of their own infrastructure?' says councillor Thekiso.

The council is said to be spending millions of Pulas to maintain these infrastructural services in electricity bills, especially in street lighting, manpower wages, vehicle maintenance and fuel usage and the repairs of the infrastructure itself including cutting of grass.

On the other hand, deputy clerk Lebuile Israel has said the areas under question have not been legally transferred to the GCC, adding that the council is currently engaged with the owners to transfer the land (in question) to the GCC, 'as is usual practice with other developers such as Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC), Universal Estates etc,' he told council last week.

The council has also said there is no written authority directing council to use public funds to maintain Phakalane and Gaborone North infrastructure.

'It appears this has been a wrong practice on our part as council,' said the deputy clerk. The GCC, says officials close to the matter, could rectify the situation by ensuring that the landowners transfer the land where the infrastructure is to council, through a resolution accepting the transfer.

In his submission before the council, Israel reiterated this when he told councillors that 'alternatively council gives sufficient notice for the transfer of the infrastructure in question, failing which council must stop altogether any maintenance of infrastructure on freehold land where the owner thereof does not accede to transferring ownership to council as alluded to,' he said.

As to how the GCC accounts for the public funds used in these projects, Israel has said they have been using council infrastructure maintenance votes 'without necessarily separating and indicating that the works done were either for infrastructure on council land or freehold land. So the money has all along been accounted for as if it were expended on council infrastructure only,' he said.

Regarding provision of infrastructure for waste-water, the deputy clerk said the works have been transferred to Water Utilities Corporation, hence they are responsible for the reticulation of sewer secondary lines in Gaborone North.

'As for the provision of internal roads or street lighting, council does provide for such only on state land as was the case with the recently completed Tsholofelo Extension,' he said.

In his response to councillor Thekiso's request for the total cost incurred by council in servicing the private-owned land, deputy clerk said last week that the matter should be referred to the GCC Finance Committee so they can get information on what council spent annually on the projects. Meanwhile council has said it will not be able to install streetlights in Blocks Three and Six nor repair streetlights in Block Seven, due to budgetary constraints.

'We have only budgeted to maintain Tsholofelo and Extension 12 Park for the current financial year 2011/2012.

Currently we are looking for donors who can assist us in maintaining different children playgrounds within the city.

We have to maintain at least five children playgrounds within the city in the coming financial year 2012/2013, including in Block Six,' said Israel. When contacted by Mmegi to state how much council has spent on servicing the land, Israel said that 'the answer was deferred to the June full council.'