The article can be read in if you missed it. The article about my critics on the authoritative Master Plan (an issue also brought up by Joe Noero and Leta Mosienyane) unfortunately wasn't there, probably due to the frequent power cuts.I have some serious concerns about our Gaborone CBD area. One issue not mentioned at the seminar was the fact that the implementation of the CBD area started in earnest around 2010, long after land allocation had been made and decades after expensive infrastructure was constructed thus costing years of interest on the money invested (reflected in the price of the land).
Furthermore, the prestigious central area was, also decades ago, subject to an in-house so-called "detailed planning" by DTRP, severely "lacking capacity", as often stated in Terms of References for proposed consultancy projects of the time (and even today). And we can't agree more!The Master Plan above it looks to me like a Walt Disney cartoon. Embarrassing for professional planners and implementing architects but still a condition for sale of plots and thus binding in the eyes of scrutinizing bureaucrats! This is the US situation that CNU fronted around the same time as the Master Plan was made and subject for my interest lately (see Mmegi).
