| GABORONE - Basarwa who live near major villages will now be catered for under the revised Remote Area Dwellers Programme, says the Minister of Local Government, Ms Margaret Nasha. Presenting her ministrys over P5 billion budget proposal for the 2009/10 financial year on Tuesday, Ms Nasha said the fact that such Basarwa live near villages did not make them any richer. Still on the RADP, Ms Nasha requested over P1 million to complete projects on farms development in the North West and Central Districts. She said her ministry would continue to monitor existing projects for RADP to ensure success and sustainability. The minister also informed Parliament that implementation of the electronic payment system for use by amongst others destitute people would start in April. Ms Nasha said local authorities would get the lions share of the ministrys budget of over P3 billion as revenue support grant. She said due to budgetary constraints no new vehicles would be bought in the next financial year. She, however, said about 21 vehicles would be purchased for customary courts before the end of the current financial year. She said her ministry would continue to improve management of the existing fleet to ensure sustainable and effective service delivery. The minister said since the Botswana Local Police would be merging with the Botswana Police Service, the local police college in Kanye would be designed to suit her ministrys needs. She said over P850 000 has been budgeted for the design of the former police college. The minister also requested over P63 million for labour intensive public works in both urban and rural areas. She said the programme is meant to provide relief in the form of a supplementary income to the poor and the unemployed. For social welfare and development, Ms Nasha requested over P12 million. She said the funds would be used to construct the first 200 houses in the Southern and Kweneng districts for the destitute persons. She said they plan to construct over 10 000 destitute houses during NDP 10 in 15 districts. The minister said the breakdown for the other sectors in her ministry are as follows: village water supply over P120 million, village infrastructure over P242 million, municipal services over P88 million, urban land servicing over P56 million, district and urban roads P181 million, computerisation over P12 million, over P28 million for consultancies and over P144 million for local authorities infrastructure maintenance and over P29 million for storage and distribution facilities. Other allocations include over P200 million for primary schools earmarked for the continuing primary school backlog eradication, over P10 million for recreational facilities, over P125 million for primary health facilities and over P50 million for rural administration centres. BOPA |
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