22 Apr 2019

Water Utilities Corporations (WUC) CEO Mr Mmetla Masire says the corporation would undertake two major projects in the Shashe West constituency and the North East District.
Addressing a kgotla meeting in Borolong recently, Mr Masire said one of the projects scheduled to start in August this year was the disconnection of three villages in the Shashe West constituency from the Mathangwane cluster.

The three villages are Borolong, Shashe Mooke, and Chadibe and will now stand alone.

He told the meeting that the project, which would cost about P100 million, was expected to be completed in August next year.

Mr Masire explained that the project had already been approved and the constructor would mobilise in August this year.

He told residents to rest assured because the corporation would have devised means to supply the three villages with water until the project was complete.

He said the second project, which was funded by World Bank, was to connect 52 villages in the North East District to Ntimbale Dam.

He explained that the project, which would cost millions of Pula, would last for 18 months starting sometime in July.

However, Mr Masire explained that some villages on high lands would continue to experience low pressure, but promised that the corporation would work hard to address problems related to the water supply.

The CEO also told the residents that villages falling under the Sebina Cluster and using 70 per cent of water would have to be sustained through the Maitengwe Well Field so that the whole villages could be supplied with water.

He said Marapong, Nshakashokwe, and Senete were the most affected villages within the Sebina cluster, adding that WUC was working hard to increase water supply through bowsers.

He also said assessments were underway in different water wells to see which wells could be put back to use, which he said include the Goshwe well that had sufficient water to recover the situation.

However, he told the residents that WUC was faced with challenges such as power cuts that restricted the WUC network from supplying enough water to the country as well as the persistent occurrence of drought in the country.

Mr Masire said the other challenge was vandalism of water pipes in households and pipe leakages, adding that people would have to account for the damages caused and advised to report leakages in time to avoid paying huge bills.

Commenting, area Member of Parliament Mr Fidelis Molao appealed to residents to work hand in hand with the village leadership and WUC to overcome the problem of water shortage in their village.

For their part, residents complained that government took long to implement projects, saying the issue of water shortage had been pending for a long time.

Giving a vote of thanks, Councillor Anthony Chebani thanked government for attending to their complaints regarding water shortage and advised residents to rest assured because ‘Rome was not built in a day’. ENDS