25 Nov 2020

Mahalapye West Constituency water supply network upgrade was included in the Mahalapye major villages’ water distribution network rehabilitation project, which was completed in May 2017.

Answering a question from the Mahalapye West MP, Mr David Tshere, the Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services, Mr Kefentse Mzwinila said the project was allocated over P243 million and was a joint venture of Landmark and Zhong Gan as the main contractor and ASA Enterprise as a citizen sub-contractor.

He said the water supply distribution network rehabilitation project comprised of over 230km of both bulk transmission line and distribution network, 44.3km of which was transmission pipeline while 186.1km was distribution pipe work. 

He explained that out of the 186km undertaken, 51.8km was pipeline upgrade while the other 134km was for network expansion in Mahalapye. 

“Out of the 51km upgrading of the network, only 31km of the dilapidated network was attended to, leaving 20.7km of the old infrastructure due to financial constraints,” he said.

Also, Mr Mzwinila said the rehabilitation project did not cover the whole village network, but included portions of both Mahalapye East Constituency (Xhosa, Flowertown, Boseja, Mokubatse, Kanamo) and Mahalapye West Constituency (Moana, Xhosa 2, Dilaene, Tshikinyega, Parwe, Cornsfield, Tidimalo, Madiba, Thomadithotse, Meretlwa, Botalaote, Borotsi, Konyana, Mmoko and Herero). 

He said the next upgrade was not planned for in the current National Development Plan (NDP) and that considerations would be made during NDP 12. He said the ministry would continue to attend to leakages continuously while the Water Utilities Corporation was undertaking zonal pressure management by installing pressure reducing valves to minimise leakages. 

Mr Tshere had asked the minister to state when the Mahalapye West Constituency water supply network was last upgraded, and if the upgrade covered all pipes in the constituency. He also asked the minister to state the cost of the upgrade and when the ministry intended to upgrade the remaining water supply network to avoid water wastages due to pipe leakages. ends