Africa-Press – Botswana. Connecting Tswapong South villages to Mahalapye phase two water project which started in November 2020 is reported to be at a final stage.
The project which starts in Mahalapye, will pump water to Moshopha village, 68km from Mahalapye, where a pump station and a reservoir of 1500m3 have been installed.
The Moshopha pump station has three channels pumping water to Sefhare, Ramokgonami and Pilikwe clusters.
About 18 villages in Tswapong region will benefit from the P291m project.
While the initial completion date was November 2022, project manager, Mr Bereng Gaadingwe of China Geo Engineering Construction, said the long awaited project was expected to be completed beginning of February.
Speaking during a tour of the Moshopha site recently, he said they were doing final works, while in the coming days they would be testing the pump station as well as disinfecting pipes and reservoirs.
Mr Gaadingwe attributed the delay to shortage of some of the material which the contractor procured from South Africa.
Meanwhile, in the recent past during site visits, commencement of the project was said to have been hindered by delayed approval of the environmental management plan where the contractor had anticipated approval within three months, instead of six.
It was also said that underground rock was one of the major hiccups when laying pipes. Acquiring suitable type of soil to lay pipe was also a challenge.
Another setback was that the pipeline also passed through some of ploughing fields, where owners had to be compensated, and some cases took long to resolve, which delayed the project progress.
For More News And Analysis About Botswana Follow Africa-Press
