This was revealed during presentations on Lesotho’s urban agenda at the Eighteenth Private Consultative Meeting. The meeting was held virtually.

When officially opening the meeting, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Thabiso Molapo remarked that in the post-COVID-19 era, Lesotho and the world are starting to emerge from two years that changed the world in different ways.

“It is during COVID-19 that countries learned about healthy cities which need to be healthy and must be designed to function differently and be resilient,” he said.

Dr Molapo noted that the 21st century will be the century of cities, saying by 2050, at least 70 percent of the world population will live in the cities even though Lesotho will not be by that rate there will be a raising in urbanisation and settlement patterns occurring.

However, he said the good news is that properly planned cities can help the country to face and confront the challenges within, saying instead of looking at cities with pessimism the country should look at urbanisation with optimism because if they are well planned, organised and well managed can deliver urban dividends, thus a bonus that comes from economic development, poverty eradication, social cohesion and environmental sustainability.

He stressed that when the country’s cities are properly planned, they can deliver on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and can specialise in national economic development strategy.

The 2050 goal for the Maseru city plan started in 2017 with the aim of revamping Maseru in line with promoting SDGs which show that there will be a green system that turns to benefit Basotho as there will be improved management of natural resources through rehabilitation of wetland, river trail and restoration of deteriorating landscapes.

Moreover, the urban plan shows that by 2050 the government aims at having environmental rehabilitation, protection and resilience that will promote clean-up of waste dumps and tree planting programs for conservation and food production.

The presentations on Lesotho’s Urban Agenda included Dr Donna D. Rubinoff, the Maseru City Council (MCC) Director of Planning, Mrs. Ntsoaki Matabo and Mr. PG Smit who is a Consultant.

The Public-Private Dialogues are organised by the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit (PMDU) to facilitate regular dialogue between the government and the private sector. The participants in these meetings include the Prime Minister, Ministers, Principal Secretaries, Heads of State-Owned Entities, Representatives of Development Partners and Private sector.