23 Feb 2017

Assistant Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services, Mr Itumeleng Moipisi says few people have connected to the Gaborone Integrated Sewerage System since completion of the P915 million infrastructure in 2013.

Mr Moipisi told Parliament recently that Gaborone has 36 750 sewer connections, while 15 894 households were yet to connect to the system.

He said households not connected included 4 894 in SHHA areas. The project, he added was started in 2009 and completed in March 2013.

“Under-utilisation of the sewer network results in low flow conditions, which result in deposition of matter in sewer lines and increased detention of waste in sewer lines. The deposits accumulate over time causing frequent blockages.

Also, deposited matter decomposes in sewer lines producing odorous gases,” he said. He pointed that the situation increases costs of operating the infrastructure as sewerage attendants have to clear blockages regularly.

Also, he said Water Utilities Corporation was offering residents an instalment option to pay connection fees as a way of encouraging connection to the network. “The standard connection fee for plot sizes up to 450 square metres is P1 500.

Most plots in the SHHA areas fall within this size,” he said. Further, he said the ministry was aware of a special dispensation, the Home Improvement Loan available to SHHA residents under various city councils.

Under such arrangement, he said SHHA residents can get loans up to P60 000 to carry out improvements on their property. Gaborone North MP, Mr Haskins Nkaigwa had asked the minister to state the expenditure on the Gaborone Integrated Sewer project.

Mr Nkaigwa also wanted to know whether the project had achieved its objectives, if not what was being done for it to achieve its objectives. He further wanted the minister to state the number of households connected to the sewer network and what was being done to assist those that had not yet connected.

The MP also wanted to know the number of households who had not yet connected as well as disadvantages of underutilisation of the sewer network.