15 Oct 2019

Work on the long-awaited Maun water supply and sanitation Phase II project has commenced.

A ground-breaking ceremony for the P2.65 billion mega project was performed by Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services Mr Kefentse Mzwinila on  Monday.

Envisaged to be completed in three years,  the project is meant to improve access to potable water and sanitation services in Maun and its outlying satellite villages.

It has been packaged into four mutually dependent contracts all of which were planned to be completed at the same time by October 2022.

Speaking during the ceremony, Mr Mzwinila said  the project was necessitated by major challenges such as severe water shortage and lack of sewerage in Maun.

He appreciated that the drying of the Thamalakane River, old pipes and limited layout exacerbated the situation.

The village, he said, needed 14 million litres of water a day but Water Utilities Corporation only managed to supply nine million litres adding that the village also had two sewage ponds which they wanted to move away from.

He said the intention was to ensure that contractors speeded up implementation of the project in order to provide a permanent solution.

The minister explained that the project had been unbundled into four contractors for easy management.

The first contractor, he said would focus on the design, supply and building of water distribution network, sanitation reticulation, telemetry, SCADA and other associated works.

Meanwhile the second contract will undertake borehole equipping, boreholes collector lines, water treatment plant and transmission pipelines, booster stations and associated works.

Contract number three will focus on Maun wastewater treatment plant at east and west including instrumentation and control and associated works while the last one will implement Maun satellite villages connections including a treatment plant at Sexaxa.

Mr Mzwinila said the first phase of the project had already been awarded to Chinese contractor Zhengtai Group at a cost of P1.8 billion while the rest of the contractors would share the remaining balance.

Government, he said, remained committed to striving for the efficient and responsible supply of high-quality potable water and wastewater management services hence the project.

The minister said government had been experiencing challenges where some contractors failed to finish projects on time.

“This time we do not entertain such practice as we expect contractors to produce quality projects within stipulated time and budget,” he added.

One of the contractors, Mr Steven Liu thanked government for entrusting him with the first phase of the mega-project noting that it was an indication that the ministry had faith in him.

He explained that it was not the first time he had undertaken such a huge project citing construction of Mahupe Unified Secondary School, Sidilega Private Hospital in Gaborone and a Boteti water project.

All the projects, he said, were executed on time and within budget saying there was no doubt he would do the same with the Maun project.

Mr Liu appreciated the importance of the project to both the community and government.

He underscored the need for cooperation between the construction team, stakeholders and the affected community for effective delivery of the project.

The project, he said, would  add value to the local economy as it would create employment for residents.

Mr Liu promised to ensure a clean environment in keeping with Maun’s status as a prime tourist destination and also to implement social corporate responsibility initiatives.ENDS