11 Aug 2016

The Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Affairs has started the P707 million construction sewage system in Kanye.

The environmental officer, Mr Lucas Tshukudu briefed residents of Kanye about the project in a kgotla meeting  in Kanye on Wednesday.

He said the provision will provide a reliable and safe sanitary system and the project will provide a sewage system that will be safe and hygienic and treat all waste to a level that it is rendered harmless.

Mr Tshukudu said the environmental impact assessment was undertaken in 2007 and 2008 and it was subsequently approved. He said the communities and the leadership have been consulted and allowed to express their views and concerns pertaining to the project. The Estate Construction (Pty) Ltd is the one responsible for the construction and it is a Motswana owned company, expected to finish on March 31, 2019. Which is a duration of 42 months.

Mr Tshukudu said the consultants are Wellfield Engineering (Pty) Ltd in association with PN Consultants (Pty) Ltd. 

He mentioned that the project has so far provided employment to at least 175 Batswana and expected to employ more than 400 soon.

 He said HIV/AIDS is a major issue in all of the communities, adding that they have already engaged Retired Nurses Society to educate employees on various topics pertaining to HIV and condoms are supplied to all workers. Concerning, compensation of affected properties all properties in part of wholly will be subjected to assessment procedures by the Land Board and paid according to the compensation guidelines provided by government.

He said there will be plans to minimise the effect of traffic on day to day activities of the community through provision of signage, access roads and passes to limit the amount of disruption time.

They will limit working hours to between sunrise to sunset and they will ensures that all safety protocols are observed.

Commenting, residents welcomed the developments but were worried that compensation is usually too low. They appealed to the contractors to be fair when employing people for the project. Ends