09 Mar 2022

Access to electricity is critical to improvement of quality of life in Botswana.  

Minister of Minerals Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security Mr Lefoko Moagi said this when presenting the ministry’s budget proposals for the 2022/2023 financial year on Tuesday. He requested Parliament to approve over P350 million and over P893.7 million under the recurrent and development budget respectively. 

Minister Moagi said the recurrent budget would be allocated to the ministry headquarters, its three state owned enterprises being Botswana Geoscience Institute, Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) and Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (BERA) as well as the departments of mines and energy. 

He said P600 million of the development budget would be allocated to the BPC support projects, P150 million to the National Fuel Security projects and P44 million to rural electrification projects. 

He further said P36 million would go towards power generation projects and P62 million towards projects in the mineral resources exploration and green technology. 

Giving an overview of the progress of activities under the ministry, Mr Moagi said the ministry was undertaking a number of programmes aimed at improving access to electricity in Botswana. 

The minister said electrification of 118 more villages was completed through the Rural Electrification Project in December last year. 

“To date electrification of gazetted villages stands at 79 per cent, with 447 out of the total 565 gazetted villages electrified. During the current financial year, 40 new villages are being electrified to the tune of P50 million,” he said. 

Mr Moagi further said consultation was done with key stakeholders on the Energy Policy, which Parliament adopted in April last year. 

“Following the approval of the policy a number of new programmes were launched such as the Solar Roof Top, Integrated Energy Resource Plan for Electricity Generation, and the National Electricity Standard Costs (NESC),” he said. 

He added that one of the reforms implemented to increase access to electricity was reduction of the standard electricity connection for low income households to P2 500 from P5 000. 

He said electricity access stood at 67.9 per cent and the intention was to reach 100 per cent before 2030. 

Concerning electricity prices, he said BPC tariffs were still not cost reflective and would be reviewed on annual basis. He said the ministry was supporting BPC to implement projects aimed at increasing grid access and addressing network reliability in areas where network performance was below the desired standards. 

“The North West Transmission Grid Connection Phase 1 has been completed with the exception of the Legotlhwane to Ghanzi connection which is 83 per cent complete. 

This will power the mining projects in the Ghanzi area. Government is finalising plans for development of the Phase 2 of the North West Transmission Grid extension and the 400kV grid from Phokoje to Pandamatenga to provide power for the anticipated agriculture and water supply projects in the Chobe District,” he said.

 Mr Moagi added that the BERA was undertaking a project to develop regulatory tools, instruments and technical studies to support renewable energy Independent Power Producers (IPPs) facilitation and roll out programmes. He said the project was funded by the African Development Bank. Concerning fuel prices, he said effective management of fuel prices was important to sustainability of the petroleum sub sector. 

“My ministry through BERA will review the current pricing methodology to attract further investment in the petroleum supply and storage infrastructure, as well as full utilisation of alternative sources and routes of petroleum products supplies,” he said. 

The minister said the ministry was earmarking development of three fuel storage at Tshele Hills, Francistown and Ghanzi through Public Private Partnerships. 

On the minerals sector, he said the ministry drafted a mineral policy to provide guiding principles to the development and growth of the minerals sector and the policy was awaiting debate by Parliament. He said the research was expected to be complete in May. 

He said due to improved market conditions there was an increase in rough diamond sales in 2021 compared to 2020, with the Okavango Diamond Company sales being close to US$1 billion worth of rough diamonds in 2021 compared to only US$207 million in 2020. In terms of revenue collection, he said the ministry was anticipating P17.6 billion but that target was revised to P14.1bn due to effects of COVID-19. Ends