The Gaborone City Council (GCC) is failing to attract private public partnership partners to develop vast plots of land identified by the council for the purpose of revenue generation.
GCC Public Relations Officer Ethel Koma, confirmed to Sunday Standard this week that unlike its peers elsewhere, the capital city’s local authority’s efforts to lure private business partners continues to hit a snag.
“We do not currently have ongoing PPP at the moment but we are working on it “Koma said.
Earlier this year when addressing a full council meeting GCC mayor Kagiso Thutlwe said that he was concerned about “The slow pace of implementing developments through the PPP arrangement”.
He further called on the council administration to ensure that development of PPP becomes a reality.
Details have emerged that GCC currently has three plots of land which have been set out for PPP and have been earmarked specifically for construction of chamber offices, civic hall retail and transport oriented hub.
In the past the GCC had tries to find a partner for development of its former abattoir next to Old Naledi and Chibuku House in the White City locality but the effort also failed. At the same time, residents of White City and Old Naledi are always complaining that the two building are an eye sore and being used as hide out areas by criminals in the city.
Meanwhile the central Government continues to encourage local authorities to engage in PPP in order to help create employment and make money for developments by so doing reducing dependence on government funding.
Currently, the Southern District Council based in Kanye has successfully implemented some of its projects through the PPP including building two retail malls.
