The City of Francistown and AMA Future of Africa Holding (Pty) Ltd has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) for the establishment of an Integrated Solid Waste Management System (Recycling Plant), Clean Francistown and Green Botswana Project.
The Local Economic Development (LED) initiative was discovered by the district as a catalytic project in 2015, but due to lack of funds, it was never implemented until a potential investor was identified through an Investment Fair organised by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in March 2021.
In his Full Council address on September, 24th, FCC Mayor, Godisang Radisigo, said one of their functions as Local Authorities is to provide efficient waste management services and maintain cleanliness in the city.
He lamented that their pursuit to outsource waste collection services in an effort to improve efficiency has been hampered by the frequent appeals and interdictions that are characteristic of bidders in Francistown.
“On a positive note, we successfully managed to outsource waste collection in Gerald Estates with the intention to continue rolling out to other areas in the city to enhance efficiency in this function and as such, we will continue to address prevailing challenges in our mission to make Francistown the cleanest city,” Radisigo said.
The Mayor further said one of their biggest challenges is the illegal and indiscriminate dumping of waste in the city.
“Our effort to closely monitor illegal waste dumping hot spots are ineffective as dumping takes place in the middle of the night or early hours of the morning,” he said.
Radisigo told Council that strategies, through collaboration with other law enforcement agencies, are however being put in place to halt this trend.
“We also take solace in the fact that formulation of refuse bye-laws are at an advanced stage. The bye-laws will go a long way in promoting ownership and accountability for refuse management by all stakeholders,” he said.
