Gaborone City Council (GCC) Mayor, Austin Abraham says failure by the council to collect revenue contributes to its financial crisis. Addressing councillors on Monday during a full meeting, Abraham said revenue collection remains a challenge for the GCC.
“This leads to serious cash flow problems since often times expenditure exceeds income. This means that we end up not being able to deliver on some of the activities that would have been planned. I wish to beseech the Finance and General Purpose Committee to formulate and implement strategies to increase the revenue base and accelerate the collection,” Abraham said. The Mayor pleaded with the Gaborone community to come forth and pay property rates and service levies. He said rates contribute about 25% of the recurrent budget and these funds if collected, can contribute significantly to the development of the city. He also requested the media to help disseminate information on the need to comply in terms of paying for public goods and services. On another matter, the Mayor said as of the end of May 2023, their total expenditure stood at P67,757,873.93, translating to 14.8% of the budget. The total collection stands at P77,432,118.92, which is 16.9% of the budget.
With that regard, he said they will continue monitoring expenditure and revenue collection through structures such as the Finance and General Purpose Committee. He, however, said they will focus on major components of the recurrent budget, such as property rates, advertising signs, ground leases and parking fees. On other issues, under the Second Transitional National Development Plan (TNDP), the Mayor said P7,875,000 has been approved to design the storm water master plan for Gaborone. He said the design review works shall assist the Gaborone residents in identifying flood-prone areas and coming up with mitigation measures to deal with storm water challenges. Meanwhile, on the issue of road maintenance, he said in the last financial year, funds amounting to P20,000,000 were approved through the development budget to augment their road maintenance budgets.
He continued: “I would like to indicate that the asphalt overlay along selected portions of Marapoathutlwa road in Block 10, Litabi Way in Block 6, Mafukutswe Road and Mmaraka roads commenced on the 14th of April 2023 and is expected to be complete by October 2023.” He said the project has been financed to the tune of P14.7 million. In addition, he said it should be noted that the remaining P5 million was allocated for the construction of the storm water drain project. He also indicated that pothole patching continues, and noticeable improvements have been realised. Abraham said at the end of May 2023, 68.8% of the potholes would have been repaired. Additionally, works are still ongoing on the remaining roads and they need to expedite implementation. He also reiterated the government’s decision that the 2023/24 Constituency Community Projects (CCP) funds will exclusively focus on the maintenance of internal roads. He revealed that the projects that will be implemented under this programme include; asphalt overlay, chip seal, paving and pothole patching across all constituencies.
He said the council will engage local artisans, local plant and machinery and labour for the implementation of these projects and it will contribute to employment creation in the city.
