Francistown City Council (FCC) will spend over P60 million in its development budget for the Backlog Eradication Programme of education facilities and Street lights in Gerald Estates location. This was said by Francistown Mayor Sylvia Muzila during the last full council meeting for the year last week.
“As council we are currently working within a development budget of P61,833,888 for the Backlog Eradication Programme for education facilities and Streetlights at Gerald Estates. Under the Backlog Eradication Programme we are currently constructing 38 houses for teachers and two ablution blocks of toilets with 10 cubicles each for pupils. Six housing units are complete to date while the blocks of flats are still on-going,” she said.
Muzila revealed that four companies were contracted at a total amount of P22,579,133.64 and 140 people benefited in terms of employment. As regards to street lights at Gerald Estate she said a tender has been awarded and is awaiting the signing of the contract.
On the ongoing construction of the Tonota-Francistown road and the Thapama Interchange Junction she said the city continues to experience traffic congestion due to the works that are ongoing on the road. Muzila added that that the road is currently at 90.6 percent against the planned 94.5 percent and it is expected to be complete on the 13th of January 2016.
“The interchange is at 16.6 percent against the planned 23.5 percent and is expected to be complete on the 2nd of August 2016 which is nine months from now. My request is for you honorable councilors to plead with the public to bear with us and continue exercising patience on the congested roads,” she said Touching on the Junior Secondary School which is currently under construction in Gerald Estates Location she said when the project started it was stopped due to the fact that an Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA) was not done. She said progress of the project is currently at 20 percent against the planned 58 percent.
“It was originally to be completed on the 26th of January 2016 but now the time has been extended to the 17th of June 2016. On the part of the staff houses, things are not going according to plan. Progress is at 38 percent against the planned 85 percent. This is a cause of concern and I believe the necessary actions will be taken accordingly,” she said Among other important issues, Muzila also announced that Water Utilities Corporation will discontinue its service in emptying of septic tanks and pit latrines in SHHA areas in Francistown beginning of April in 2016.
“They explained that that this is with regard to SHHA areas which are serviced with sewer networks. They advised that the system is currently underutilized leading to the corporation incurring huge costs in running parallel systems in one area,” she said.
She implored councilors to disseminate information to their communities so that the affected households are not caught off guard.
