The Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Shaw Kgathi, said the Gaborone multi-purpose Youth Centre is not open for use because of design inadequacies requiring to be attended to before it can be occupied.
Kgathi stated in particular that the fire detection system was omitted from the original design and scope of works.
He added that a company was engaged and the installation of the system was completed at the end of June 2013. He said the construction of the Gaborone Multi-purpose Youth Centre, which was built with the assistance of the Government of the Peoples’ Republic of China, was completed in December 2012 and was officially handed over to the Botswana Government on December 7th, 2012.
“After the hand-over of the facility, there were some remedial works that were done within the facility and all this was done at the contractor’s expenses as the contract was still within the defects liability period,” said Kgathi.
He further stated that the young people in Botswana can expect the Centre to be occupied at the beginning of October 2013.
Kgathi explained that the Botswana National Youth Council (BNYC), who are going to occupy and run the facility, are serving notice where they have been accommodated in private office accommodation at the Gaborone International Finance Park.
The Minister was responding to a question asked in Parliament last week by Member of Parliament for Gaborone South, Kagiso Molatlhegi who wanted to know the completion date of the Youth Centre, why it is still not open and when it will be open for use.
