12 Mar 2018

Seronga village, in the Okavango District, is one of the first villages that will soon start using solar power in the country.

Currently the village is powered by generators which are said not to be doing enough in terms of power supply.

Addressing the Seronga populace recently, the area Member of Parliament (MP), Mr Bagalatia Arone said everything about the project had been finalised and that a German company by the name Cronimet was only waiting to be allocated land to start work.

He said the land would be registered under the Okavango Community Trust (OCT) which would then lease it out to Cronimet. Therefore, the MP urged landboard authorities to speed up the process of allocation since that was a special application.

“The company will be operating in the land of a community for 25 years, while the agreement is that 10 per cent of the company’s revenue will be given to OCT,” said Mr Arone. Meanwhile, Mr Arone said benchmarking on solar power electricity had been done in countries such as Kenya and Ghana among others. 

He said countries such as China also used solar electricity to power some of its big cities, hence it was wise for Botswana to also try that route.

The MP said completion of the solar station would address frequent power outages experienced by Seronga, adding that the solar panels would complement the generators.

On other issues, Mr Arone said there were plans of making Seronga village a service centre that would provide services to villages across the Okavango River.

He told the residents that the youth empowerment, sport and culture development office and that of civil and national registration would open in Seronga in April.

The MP said with such services in the village, people would no longer travel long distances to Gumare and Maun.

Meanwhile, a resident, Mr Teko Ditirwa appreciated the developments that were coming to Seronga, noting that the developments would see lives changed for the better.

He said the solar power would make life easier for those running shops.

Other residents also commended government for the solar power electricity initiative.

She said sometimes the village would go for days without electricity as a result of the malfunction of generators which are the only source of power in the village, hence she said the solar power project was highly appreciated

She was also of the view that frequent power outages in Seronga had somehow negatively affected students’ results at Ngambao junior secondary school. Ends