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MBABANE MUNICIPALITYâ€™S IDP REQUIRES E1.6 BILLION BUDGET FOR NEXT FIVE YEARS

By Bahle Gama | 2019-09-22

The Municipal Council of Mbabane’s 2019-24 Integrated Development Plan (IDP) will require funding to the tune of E1.6 billion over the next five years.

This was disclosed during the council’s AGM held at Mountain Inn yesterday.

According to the Council’s Annual Report, a quarter of the IDP is expected to be financed through Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements. The largest chunk of the IDP capital projects will go to road rehabilitation and maintenance.

It further states that the city’s revenues are expected to diversify to reduce reliance on property tax.

About 52 per cent of the projected expenditure remains unfunded, 91 per cent of which comprises unfunded capital projects and projects earmarked for PPP funding at 55 per cent.

Other programmes will be financed through cost cutting measures within the Municipal Council. It was further reported that additional funding would be sought through various means, including strengthening the PPP programme, sourcing donor funding, and collaboration with existing funds such as the Regional Development Fund (RDF), the Youth Enterprise Fund and others.

Also contained in the report is the grant funding of about E2 million that has been made available to the Municipal Council through the Insika Project which targets HIV and Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) rights interventions, running for two to five years.

Other stakeholders besides communities were consulted for purposes of gathering input for the IDP preparation process and these include the business sector (SMEs and large businesses), the youth and academia.

Central to the municipal’s vision is the ability to attract people to visit and stay in Mbabane, as well as industry to prefer locating to the city.

“To this end, the city will work to ensure that it is a safe place with a good infrastructure and service delivery mechanism.

“The city also believes in inclusion, ensuring diversity in all forms, accommodating both the young and the old,” it stated

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