14 Oct 2026

There has been delays with the Maun Water Supply and Sanitation Phase II project, owing to partial and full suspension of works by the contractor.

The contractor reportedly suspended works last year September to March this year due to delayed payment despite efforts by the ministry to pay part of the money to facilitate progress.

This came to light Monday during a briefing with the Minister of Water and Human Settlement, Mr Onneetse Ramogapi, who was touring some projects in Maun to get an update on progress.

Project manager for contract one, Mr Goyabokhutong Dintwa, explained that the overall progress of the project, which was projected for completion June last year, was at 91 per cent.

He said there was no contractual completion date as it should be motivated by the contractor.

Looking at the remaining works, it is estimated that the project could be completed by end of December next year, assuming all goes according to plan, Mr Dintwa said.

He also stated that excessive rain experienced December last year and January this year contributed to the delay.

 

Other challenges mentioned included the fact that the area was a built area resulting and as a result, there were about 460 complaints from residents the majority of which were addressed and only 37 were being attended to.

However, outlining the scope of the works done by contractor one, Mr Dintwa explained that the contractor had established three new water supply zones in Boseja and expand eight existing water supply zones established under the network optimisation project that was completed in 2019.

The contractor also constructed 593km of pipelines comprising 29km of bulk water transmission pipelines ranging from 250mm diameter to 450mm diameter as well as 562km of water distribution networks ranging from 63mm diameter to 350mm diameter.

Furthermore, the contractor had provided water plot connections throughout the Maun buildable area, construct five new booster stations, expand and upgrade five existing pump stations and construct new storage reservoirs to service zones ranging in size from 5000m3 to 1100m3.

With regard to water distribution, Mr Dintwa highlighted that water scheme was partially commissioned in October 2024 and handed over to WUC while the remaining works was to finalise tests on existing pump stations upon replacement of faulty and missing equipment.

Meanwhile, the aim of the project is to improve water supply for Maun and satellite villages, improve sanitation services and facilitate remote monitoring and control (operation) of water and sanitation schemes through telemetry and SCADA. ENDS