26 Sep 2013

The Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources Mr Kitso Mokaila has told residents of Kasane that his Ministry will continue installing pre-paid standpipes as part of water management initiatives aimed at ensuring that water is not misused.

He said some people have a habit of providing their livestock with water from public standpipes, such that prepaid standpipes that require coupons will ensure that all are accountable for the amount of water they use. The residents complained about water bills that come late or hardly ever get delivered.

Others said their bills are very inconsistent. In response, Mr Mokaila said Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) inherited a P70 million outstanding debt when they took over the Department of Water Affairs, and as such were still working on collecting that debt.

“Billing was irregular during the era of Water Affairs as the fee for a liter of water varied from one area to the next, hence government’s decision to make WUC a one stop water management centre,” said Mr Mokaila. For his part, Chobe District Council Chairman

Mr Mwanota Kachana encouraged residents to take the initiative and collect their bills from WUC instead of waiting for them to be delivered. On other issues, Mr Mokaila told Kasane residents that load shedding will come to an end by December. He revealed that efforts are ongoing to ensure that Morupule power station produces more electricity than the country’s demand by the year 2018.

“We are currently operating with three units at Morupule B, while the fourth one is under maintenance. We don’t ever want to find ourselves in this situation again,” he said. He explained that the move to produce more power by 2018 is also meant to cater for the needs of companies that have shown interest in investing in Botswana, especially in mining, which consumes a lot of power. As an example, he said BCL mine needs 50 megawatts of power while a village like Mmadinare only needs 1 megawatt.

He added that this year his Ministry will focus on satisfying the electricity needs of government and other facilities, and will move onto village network extensions next year. Mr Mokaila explained that the relocation of DTC means that Botswana will host diamond sales every five weeks, bringing the total number of sales sessions to ten per annum.

“This means that we will be hosting more than 70 companies that trade in diamonds. We will also have an opportunity to trade in transport, accommodation, food and other services,” he said. ENDS