27 Nov 2017

Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services, Mr Prince Maele says Botswana has realised that Lesotho has plenty of water, hence an option for solution to Botswana’s water challenges.

Speaking at a press briefing on issues of Orange-Senqu River Commission (ORASECOM), Mr Maele said this was going to be achieved by building a large dam in Lesotho.

He said recently there had been  a meeting between ministers responsible for water in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa as they share trans-boundary water in Kasane recently.

At the meeting, there was an agreement that a feasibility study be conducted for the water transfer scheme.

Mr Maele noted that the agreement optimised commitment by Botswana to look for water that would not be expensive for the country.

He explained that the way they intended to execute the project was in such a way that there was beneficiation such that in every village that the pipeline traversed, the residents should benefit from that water.

On the other hand, he stated that Masama East and Masama West wells would soon be pumping water into the North-South Water Carrier to supply the Greater Gaborone by next year. The Chobe-Zambezi which will take a while and the Stampriet Aquifer which will supply the Kgalagadi North and expected to be complete by 2020.

On a positive note, he said companies from all the four countries were going to benefit from the project.

Mr Maele further said about 40 per cent of portable water was wasted as pipes were old and leaking due to old pipes and infrastructure.
 BOPA