16 Oct 2016

Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Ms Botlogile Tshireletso has told Ntlo ya Dikgosi that the Semolo desalination reverse osmosis plant is currently producing excess reject water as the plant’s efficiency has gone down.
Answering a question at a Ntlo ya Dikgosi meeting recently, Ms Tshireletso explained that the fence surrounding the reject water pond had been damaged by wildlife including elephants leading to livestock straying into the pond.
She said the solution to the problem involved rehabilitating the plant to minimise the produced reject water as well as building a robust fence and some form of deterrent such as elephant buffer to keep away both wildlife and livestock.
She highlighted that efforts were made to rehabilitate the plant in 2013, however the project could not take off as the bidders quoted much higher than the available budget.
Again, she said attempts to re-tender did not yield desired results and funds were used for other projects.
Further, she said the project was then deferred during the subsequent years to date due to funding limitation.
However, she said the project has been earmarked to be done under the NDP 11.
Kgosi Munduu of Ngami region had asked the Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services if he was aware of the leakage at the Semolo plant near Bodibeng which resulted in livestock going stray to the plant to access contaminated water.
He also wanted to know if there were some measures in place to address the situation.ENDS