The plea was made by the Vice President, Slumber Tsogwane, recently when officiating at the simultaneous ground breaking of 28 police stations and staff houses that was held at the Gaborone International Convention Centre (GICC). He expressed worry that it has since become increasingly worrisome that major projects, which are of strategic importance and of public interest, have attracted cost overruns due to incomplete designs, poor workmanship and changing project scopes. Tsogwane stated that the police stations are expected to enhance the capacity of the Botswana Police Service in the fight against crime to ensure continued public safety, peace and stability. He said as part of the global village, Botswana subscribes to both regional and international organisations’ treaties and protocols that seek to promote global security, peace, stability, and sustainable development.
“This is a turn-key project that highlights my government’s resolve to use the Development Manager model to expedite the delivery of infrastructure development that is core to the Transitional National Development Plan (TNDP)’s targets. Thus, during the current 2024/25 finance year, Botswana has become a vast construction site. I wish to urge the two companies which have been awarded the project, namely, Home Safe Inspections (Pty) Ltd and Unik Construction Engineering (Pty) Ltd, to deliver the projects on time, on budget, and without compromising quality,” pleaded Tsogwane. The VP further asserted that the construction of the 28 police stations was envisioned in the second TNDP themed, “Towards a high-income economy: Transformation now, prosperity tomorrow”, which runs from April 2023-March 2025. He said it is also part of the deliverables of the overarching outcome of ‘Achieving prosperity for all’ in a crime-free environment, as espoused in the National Vision 2036. Tsogwane said through this Vision, government seeks to transform the economy from an upper-middle income to a high-income status by 2036. “Vision 2036 Pillar No. 4 on governance, peace and security, speaks to a peaceful society characterised by low levels of crime and fear, a state of affairs which should, in turn, contribute positively towards attracting foreign direct investment and boost our economy. It is, therefore, my government’s intention to fully resource the Botswana Police Service to deliver an ideal environment where society feels safe at all times,” Tsogwane said. He said in demonstrating this commitment of enhancing peace and security, just a week ago, government presided over a pass-out parade of approximately 1, 000 police recruits who were graduating from the Police College in Otse. He added that the pass-out was the second time that the college graduated such a big number of officers.
