Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure Science and Technology (MIST), Dipogiso Mokotedi with his officials says they are working around the clock to eliminate all negative allegations associated within his ministry.

Speaking during submissions at the Parliamentry Public Accounts Committee this week, Mokotedi says they have established different commissions to take care of all criticism towards MIST. The following boards have been appointed to take care of all the queries, quality assurance committee, independent and scrutinizing committee, claims committee to deal with all funds issues, project management and specialized expertise.

The ministry has been relying too much on consultants without being hands on and as a result the government funds have been misused due to corrupt practices. Construction cost overruns amount to billions in some projects, caused by corruption.

Mokotedi says all the defaulting companies are being held accountable and will finish the projects at their own cost hence their level of supervision has improved.

The main projects lagging behind are the National Stadia, the Botswana University of Science and Technology (BIUST) Francistown Stadia, Sir Seretse Khama Airport and Lobatse Stadia which has a setback of lawn because apparently the grass used was not appropriate. However the Ministry has accepted its failures of monitoring projects to avoid cost overruns and possible corrupt practices.

© 2012, Boidus. All rights reserved.

Speaking at Botswana Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) corporate workshop on Monday at Gaborone International Convention Centre, Mr Duncan Majinda said his role as a CEO is to put in place strategies that will ensure that BICA becomes the qualification of choice in Botswana. Some of the goals the institution has put in place are to create a professional qualification with international portability and recognition, enhance the governance and capacity of the new institute, to come up with a robust, relevant and easily enforceable programme of continuing professional development.

The Accountants Act No.12 of 2010 he said required every person or entity providing professional accountancy or related services to the public, for either a salary or a fee, to be registered with BICA for the purpose of regulation and monitoring.

Majinda could not hide his concern on private sector, saying in most cases they sit back and relax since they consider themselves professionals. He urged all accountants to register failing which will mean serious action taken against them.

“The Act, in section 30(6), imposes significant penalties for non compliance with the above requirements. A person who contravenes the above provision commits an offence and is liable to a fine not exceeding P500 000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, or both, “he emphasized.

He said his role is to coordinate and ensure that there is synergy from all resources that are brought to bear on the qualification. “Failure is not an option, it’s just a question of the degree of success relative to the short, medium and long term plans,” he added.

Some of the BICA principal stakeholders he pointed are students, tuition providers, approved training employers, BICA members, government, financiers as well as the general public among others.

Majinda pointed that the institute will focus on implementing requirements of the new act to promote compliance, establish the qualification to meet the dreams of our stakeholders as well as educate stakeholders on what contribution they can make towards the endeavor.

BICA mandate is to register, regulate, monitor accountants in Botswana as well as establish the Botswana Professional Accountancy Qualification.

© 2012, Boidus. All rights reserved.

With its mandate to continuously house Batswana, Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) continues to spread their wings even into villages. Some of the newly built BHC products are in Lobatse, Jwaneng, Mahalapye, Serowe and Ghanzi.

Boidus Focus has over the weekend toured with BHC as they introduced their houses for the first time since they have been built them to the public at Serowe. The Public Relations Officer at BHC, Tefo Kebabope has urged Serowe residents to invest more into property.

He said his corporation is trying to make houses more affordable to the public by coming up with different houses from a low, middle to a high cost house which has reasonable prices.

Kebabope said the houses are already offered for sale while few of them are being rented. Most of their clients he said are government officers. However, Serowe as a village experiences low demand as compared to big cities like Palapye where most people invest more into houses.

When contacted for comment Thapelo Mathuba, a Serowe resident who was so much impressed with the houses, said the only problem they are facing as a village is that BHC houses are too expensive. He urged BHC to re-consider their mandate and try to make houses which everyone can be able to afford.

He pointed out that most young people don’t qualify for bank a loan which makes it even more difficult for them to own or buy houses.

He however, applauded BHC, saying now their villages look alive and beautiful with the new developments.

© 2012, Boidus. All rights reserved.

“Government needs to facilitate Gaborone to become a diamond City by formulating deliberate policies geared towards enabling the City to tap into, retain and sustain the whole value chain of the diamond industry,” said the President of Botswana Confederation of Commerce, Industry and Manpower (BOCCIM), Alex Monchusi.

Speaking at the 32nd High Level Consultative Council (HLCC) meeting held in Gaborone recently, Monchusi said that Gaborone should be re-branded with a diamond theme so that one would think of diamonds immediately at the mention of the capital city.

Monchusi said this may include availing land to the diamond industry and all the downstream activities,special facilitation of permits necessary in the value chain ,facilitating Diamond related tourism and other investment incentives.

“Gaborone of course was not designed as a diamond city, But we propose that a benchmark study of a city like Antwerp can help us focus more, and can help us to create or design a model of the diamond city we would like to see in a few years time, based on what globally has come to be expected of a diamond city.  We can then prioritise our efforts around such a model,” said Monchusi.

Meanwhile this can help the government design a model of a world-class diamond city, he said.”The financing of the effort needs to also be well-considered and imaginative. There may be a need to set up special funds and credit facilities for businesses to access, with possible involvement in this regard and to entice the diamond traders themselves to come and invest in this exciting new place called Gaborone perhaps in partnership with locals, as part of ensuring that their special needs are met.” The BOCCIM president also said that they are happy about the relocation of the Diamond Trading Centre from London to Botswana, adding that it will bring a lot of business opportunities for the private sector.

Finally Monchusi outlined that their underlying concern at BOCCIM however, is that all in all there are a lot of challenges, including the architecture and aesthetics of the city. He said it is however, never too late to plan, but then we must bridge between planning and delivering the solutions.  There is therefore a need to dedicate resources to the management, implementation and monitoring of this important transformation of the city.

© 2012, Boidus. All rights reserved.

The Swedish Trade Council together with BOCCIM and the Swedish confederation of enterprises today hosted a breakfast meeting at the Swedish House as the first step towards going to Sweden later this year and targets Botswana companies and organizations that are willing to travel Sweden to seek and develop business and meet with potential partners.

Swedish Trade Council and BOCCIM sees a number of business opportunities across many sectors such as, mining, energy, ICT, food processing and tourism.

The Swedish business climate is known for flat organizational structures and an entrepreneurial culture. Business in Sweden is constantly evolving, becoming more competitive but always with people and the environment in mind. The future of Swedish business is said to lie primarily in knowledge-intensive industries, where Sweden can take advantage of its advanced technological development, sophisticated infrastructure and high general educational level.

During the 20th century, what is often described as the “Swedish economic miracle” occurred. In the space of a few decades, a poor agrarian country was transformed into one of the worlds most prosperous and sophisticated industrial nations.  The foundation for this rapid growth was northern Sweden’s enormous wealth of forests, ore and hydroelectric power, combined with a long series of ingenious Swedish inventions such as the ball bearing, the gas-powered beacon and the adjustable wrench, to name only a few.

Even today, this kind of engineering brilliance remains at the core of the Swedish business sector, with IT inventions like Skype, which enables people to call each other for free over the internet, or the online music service Spotify.

© 2012, Boidus. All rights reserved.

In this Issue; we explore the Commercial Property Development Market in Botswana.

We talk to industry market stake holders [Stock Fleet Bird Wood, Knight Frank and Apex Properties]

• Commercial Property Market Profiling
• Retail sector boom and market saturation
• Commercial property funding
• Future trends and investment opportunities in commercial property market

Boidus Focus is available from the following stores:

 Gaborone: Square Mart, Exclusive Books, University of Botswana staff canteen, Thapong Gallery: Engen Petrol Station shops: G/West Industrial, Square Deal, Game City, Western Bypass: Caltex Petrol Station: Game City, Extension 12, Village, Choppies stores, Shoppers,  Payless stores, Carbo Spar and Pula Spar.

Boidus Focus is also available at Choppies, Engen and Botswana Books stores in the following areas: Molepolole , Muchudi, Kanye, Lobatse, Mahalapye, Palapye, Francistown, Maun

© 2012, Boidus. All rights reserved.

The 460 million development Airport Junction Shopping Centre is opening its doors officialy to the public tomorrow.

A 3600 meters square Airport Junction is a brand new up market shopping, dining and lifestyle destination, situated along the A1 Freeway leading towards the Eastern suburbs of Phakalane and the development is done by Eris Property Group as a joint venture with the local partner Bifm.

With more than 70 shops, this trend setting Shopping Mall has a single level shopping with wide walk ways, world-class aesthetics, family rooms, paraplegic facilities and baby changing rooms. The centre has natural light features through-out the mall design and has four entrances with ample parking for your convenience. Builders Warehouse, Kentucy Fried Chicken, Edgars, Nandos are among outlets at the newly built Airport Junction.

According to the press statement the mall will create job opportunities for Batswana, improve the landscape of Block 10 as well as enhance property value in that area.

The mall has been delivered at the exact time of April 2012 as expected with construction which started in September 2010.

© 2012, Boidus. All rights reserved.

Botswana Craft, 24^th April 2012

Hosted by Boidus Media

BOIDUS FOCUS is running a feature on the ‘State of Our Cities’ for the June Edition and will hosting a ‘designer’s forum’ at the Botswana Craft on the 24^th April 2012.

The forum will be based on presentations from key persons who have some responsibility on matters concerning the planning, design and development of our cities.  We will have presentations from:

-        The Revised Gaborone City Development Plan- Leta Mosienyane Urban Designer /Town Planner

-        The Redevelopment Of Extension 2 Project- GCC Principal Physical Planner

-        The New Revised Development  Control Code-Department of Town & Regional Planning (DTRP) 

-        Architectures (Iconic Building)- Design Masa Centre-CBD-Arctez

-        Landscape- Appropriate greening of our urban landscapes- Richard Arthey- Rplan.M

We invite all architects, town planners, urban designers, landscape architects to be a part of this open forum for the creative stakeholders in our Built Environment.

All architects, Planners, Landscape Architects are invited to this forum to engage in matters that affect the way we design in our urban landscapes. Come engage with Local Authority, DTRP, Gaborone Revised Gaborone Masterplan and Urban landscape Concepts.

Date: 24^th April 2012

Time: 3pm – 5pm

Venue: Botswana Craft, Block 3 Industrial 

© 2012, Boidus. All rights reserved.

Speaking at the workshop, ERB President A.V Lionjanga said unlike many professions in Botswana like Medicine, Law and Accountancy which are regulated by their own statutes, the engineering act has lagged behind and remains at the bottom of the pile.

He said it is for these reason that an act should be put into place in order for Engineers to also register to legally comply with the requirements of their respective statutes, just like majority of SADC Countries.

The registration of the act, he said will amongst many things go a long way to protect clients and the public from unsafe engineering services, as well as putting the engineering practice in its rightful place within reasonable time.
The ERB developed a strategy for the implementing of the act following a deliberate decision in March 2011 by board to come up with a strategic plan.CGP was the successful bidder and they immediately worked on the report. CGP covered a three year strategic plan that will provide framework for the implementation of agreed priority objectives and their sequencing with a view to commencing statutory registration of professional engineers within the second quarter of 2012.

When asked when the act will be visible to the public, Lionjanga said it is their desire as a board to make it visible, and therefore currently working on strategies on objectives of visibility. He encouraged all engineers to work together with the board, drive program forward in order to succeed

He said during the period of developing the strategic plan, ERB shall promote public education and awareness about the mandate, power and authority of ERB to prepare them for the impending statutory registration engineers.

ERB is committed to outreach programmes by interacting with key stakeholders, bench making by visitation to selected ERB’s within the SADC countries and beyond to draw from their experiences and customize to suite their local conditions.

Inspite of their effort to establish an administration, Mr Moses Ngorima from CGP Consultants, said the board continues to seize with many challenges among others, non-existence of key staff, adequate office accommodation.

He said they are currently working on their next step to recruit staff as well as develop regulations for standards and eligible requirements.

The Enactment of the Engineers Registration Act CAP 16:06 in 1998 and subsequently amended in 2008 is a government commitment to the development, upgrading and promotion of professional engineering practices in Botswana.

© 2012, Boidus. All rights reserved.

In this issue of Boidus Focus, we brought together housing stakeholders from private sector, parastatals, academics and industry professionals around a table to discuss pertinent issues affecting housing in Botswana.

The Key questions that we discussed on this roundtable discussion were based on the following broad themes:

1. Why is Botswana failing to provide quality housing for its citizens?
2. Whose responsibility is it to see that Batswana can access housing?
   1. Is the government or private sector best placed to solve our housing crisis and if so how?
   2. What will it take for this human right need to be afforded to all citizens in this country?
      1. What is being done to address this critical issue?

Invited to this discussion are the following key stakeholders:

• Office of The President (President Housing Appeal)
• Ministry of Lands and Housing
• Gaborone City Council (SHAA)
• University of Botswana (Department of Architecture and Housing)
• Property Financiers
• Architects Association of Botswana (Representative)
• Independent Urban Designer
• Real Estate Institute of Botswana (Representative)
• Botswana Housing Cooperation
• Botswana Development Cooperation

Note: OP, BHC and Ministry of Housing and Lands could not make it to this event.

Buy a copy of this February issue from the following stores: Square Mart, Exclusive Books, University of Botswana staff canteen, Thapong Gallery: Engen Petrol Station shops: G/West Industrial, Square Deal, Game City, Western Bypass: Caltex Petrol Station: Game City, Extension 12, Village, Choopies stores, Shoppers,  Payless stores, Carbo Spar and Pula Spar.

This month also get your copy in Francistown; Galo Filling Station, Choppies and Engen Filling Station. In Lobatse get your copy from Choppies, Engen Filling Stations and Botswana Books.

Thank you for supporting us.

© 2012, Boidus. All rights reserved.