With Gaborone surrounded by villages such as Oodi, Gabane, Mogoditshane, and Tlokweng and the waiting list for residential plots at 21,400, government has revealed plans are at an advanced stage to expand the city boundary.
A total of 19,001 applications for residential use in Gaborone have been pending for more than 20 years. Responding to a question in Parliament yesterday, Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Mabuse Pule said the government has acquired approximately 5,000 hectares of land from Kweneng Tribal Territory to expand the city boundary.
The preparation for the Gaborone Expansion Master Plan which comprises 5,000 hectares of land is situated north of the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport and the area used to be known as Kgaphamadi Lands. The area was expropriated from the Kweneng tribal territory in 2011.
“We are in the process of preparing a master plan to guide developments in the said area. The plan is estimated to produce 30,000 single-family residential plots which will accommodate a minimum of 90,000 people,” he revealed. Pule who was responding on behalf of the Ministry of Lands and Water Affairs said the latter is finalising the Segoditshane River Corridor Master Plan which is estimated to accommodate approximately 40,000 people, which will among others include the youth and low-income groups.
“This will be achieved through the proposed 275 high-rise mixed-use plots. In addition, the Gaborone City Development Plan (2022–2046), which draws guidance from the National Spatial Plan is being prepared and it will further guide on how the city should develop,” he emphasised. Pule was responding to a question from Gaborone Bonnington South legislator Christian Greeff who had asked what efforts were being made to acquire additional land in Gaborone for those on the waiting list, especially the youth.
Pule added that the preparation of the Gaborone Development Plan is expected to be completed in the first year of the Transitional National Development Plan. He said: “The Gaborone waiting list includes SHHA [Self Help Housing Agency] waiting list applications. (Number of applications for land allocation in Gaborone 21,400 [Upper Income = 10,304 and SHHA =11,096], applications with more than 20 years—19,001 [Upper Income = 10,294 and SHHA = 8,707]. The ministry stopped accepting applications for residential plots in 2005 due to a shortage of land to be allocated."
