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Plans to improve Limpopo

GOOD TIDINGS: Sa'ad Cachalia, chairman of HODs of the EXCO Governance and Administration Cluster in Limpopo during a media briefing in Limpopo last week. Pic. Elijar Mushiana. 17/08/08. © Sowetan.
GOOD TIDINGS: Sa'ad Cachalia, chairman of HODs of the EXCO Governance and Administration Cluster in Limpopo during a media briefing in Limpopo last week. Pic. Elijar Mushiana. 17/08/08. © Sowetan.

Alex Matlala

Alex Matlala

The Limpopo provincial government has outlined plans that will allow the poor to start realising their dream of a "better life for all".

The plan includes upgrading railway lines, building dams, supplying electricity and financing small businesses.

The primary objective is to swell the economy of the province and improve the lives of the poor.

Outlining the plans last week, the head of the department in the economic cluster, Sa'ad Cachalia, said that since the advent of democracy 70 percent of Limpopo's population had access to basic amenities.

Cachalia said more than 82 percent of Limpopo's households had received electricity supplied between April and June this year.

He said though Limpopo remained a water-scarce province, projects had been established to improve the situation. Seventy-two percent of the population now had water on their property.

Cachalia told a media briefing that the government had planned to use more resources, particularly the Municipal Infrastructure Grant, to supply bulk water to all Limpopo communities still affected by water shortages.

He said the Nandoni Dam in Vhembe had been completed in 2006 and that the construction of a purification plant would be completed before December.

"The 1,5 metre raising of the Flag Boshielo Dam in Sekhukhune has also been completed.

The construction of one of the country's biggest dams, the De Hoop Dam in Sekhukhune, will be completed by 2012.

The feasibility study on the N'wamitwa Dam in Mopani has been completed and construction will begin in October.

The building of these dams would create tens of thousands of jobs.

According to Cachalia the Blouberg municipalities in Capricorn, Maruleng in Mopani, Fetakgomo and Makhuduthamaga in Sekhukhune were among the poorest in the province that needed urgent government intervention.

"These municipalities will be given immediate attention during the launch of the anti-poverty campaign next month," he said.

He said a railway line, which would help reduce the increasing congestion in the city and around Polokwane, would also be built.

The rail would ferry commuters to areas around Seshego and Mankweng and would create employment for unemployed young people, women and the disabled.

He said the government had also set aside R1,9million for the Moloto Rail Development corridor, which would link Limpopo with the rest of the Southern African Development Community region.

"About 900 small businesses will receive R50 million to help them get on their feet," Cachalia said.

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