24 Nov 2015

The Minister of Infrastructure, Science and Technology Mr Nonofo Molefhi has called upon the mining companies to involve government during prospecting to enable it to provide essential infrastructure on time.  

Speaking during the Connecting Resources and Society in Botswana Conference held in Gaborone, Minister Molefhi said while prospecting to mining takes a long time, mining companies should let the government know about their time frame to allow for provision of amenities such as water, power and other supporting infrastructure.

He said it was crucial for the mining companies to work with government to avoid instances where investments are frustrated by unavailability of infrastructure.

The minister has also said government was faced with a challenge of providing infrastructure from a limited source adding they were now looking into alternative funding.

He said currently, companies do not directly develop infrastructure but funds are sourced from the taxes they pay hence they are looking into exploring public private partnership in undertaking future developments.

This, he said, could be undertaken through either design, build and operate or design, build and transfer.

Minister Molefhi said the sparse population on diverse land has put a burden on government as it has to provide infrastructure and amenities wherever a village is declared.

He said Botswana roads carry a burden as the country is used as a transit route linking South Africa with the rest of the continent hence used by heavy trucks.

The minister said however, international trucks pay fees at the border while the domestic operators roam freely adding it was also high time that they also pay tariffs.

Talking about developments being undertaken, he said government was financing the bridge over Zambezi river after failing to secure a loan.

Construction of terminal building at Kasane has started while the terminal building at Maun airport is also about to begin and the runways at both airports have been extended.

The minister said his ministry was faced with several challenges amongst them capacity constraints as the country does not have the type of skills and experience needed to undertake certain projects.

Another is shortage of skilled manpower and Minister Molefhi said most of youths in Botswana are not inclined to vocational education.

Minister Molefhi said they are also faced with a challenge of poor project implementation adding the government has now taken a decision to hold all professionals involved in projects accountable hence the registration of engineers, architects and quantity surveyors.  Ends