02 Mar 2016

The Parliamentary Committee of Supply has approved the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources (MMEWR) budget request for the 2015-16 financial year, which had been presented by the portfolio minister, Mr Kitso Mokaila.

Mr Mokaila had requested close to P3.8 billion for his ministry, with P374.3 million being for recurrent budget and P3.4 billion for development budget.

The minister outlined that P2.01 billion or 59 per cent of the development budget would be allocated to Botswana Power Corporation finances programme, which would benefit the BPC Support Fund, Rakola Substation, Northwest Transmission Grid, Morupule A Refurbishment and Morupule B Unit 5 and 6.

The water planning and development programme is scheduled to get P483.7 million or 14 per cent of the development budget, with major projects being the North South Carrier project, Thune Dam and Emergency Village Water project.

“P382 068 000 or 11 per cent of my ministry’s development budget is allocated to the major villages water supply programme that houses, among others, Kanye/Molepolole NSC connection, Maun water sanitation phase II, Palapye and Mahalapye network extension,” Mr Mokaila said.

The minister noted that 54.8 per cent of the recurrent budget would be used by ministry headquarters, followed by the Department of Water Affairs with a share of 26.6 per cent.

“The remaining P69.7 million or 18.6 per cent is distributed among the Department of Geological Survey, the Department of Mines and the Department of Energy Affairs,” he said.

When debating the budget, Vice President, Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi praised the minister for the work that MMEWR has been doing countrywide, noting that southern villages such as Kanye, Moshupa, Thamaga, and Manyana were due to benefit from the North South Carrier extension.

However, Mr Masisi cautioned that water was a sensitive issue, and urged authorities involved with water provision to be careful on how they communicate the periodic absence of water supply to communities.

The Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture, Mr Thapelo Olopeng also lauded the minister and MMEWR, saying that despite commodity prices fluctuating, the country remained relatively stable in the mineral sector.

He urged the ministry to pursue solar energy in order to assist in the provision of street lighting in major villages such as Tonota.

Assistant Minister of Health, Dr Alfred Madigele urged the ministry to work on establishing a site for the creation of a dam that could focus on supplying the Southern District. He also called for the rehabilitation of wells in the Southern District in order to relieve the provision of water to some villages. Molepolole South MP, Dr Tlamelo Mmatli decried poor water supply and the absence of a proper sewerage system for Molepolole.  Ends