Africa-Press – Botswana. The four contractors engaged in the P3.4 billion Maun Phase II Water Supply and Sanitation project have been implored to accelerate their efforts towards completion of the project.
The project, which started two years ago, was scheduled to be completed in two phases; November last year and February this year.
However, it was reported to be behind schedule and some contractors had already requested for extension.
This came to the fore during a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land and Housing’s recent tour to appreciate progress and challenges faced by the project.
Committee members learnt that the project was slightly behind schedule because of challenges such as land expropriation issues, delay in submission of designs, flooding of the Thamalakane River, approval of buildings designs and issuing of building permit by council.
Other challenges included the delay by department of environmental affairs (DEA) to approve the river crossing and need for environmental impact assessment for new additional boreholes and raw water pipes route, among others.
Parliamentarians called on relevant stakeholders to work as a team to resolve bottlenecks that affected the smooth execution of the project, which aimed to upgrade and improve water supply and sanitation services in Maun and satellite villages.
They argued that government channeled a lot of money towards the project because Maun was a tourism destination and experiencing population increase as per the population census report.
The chairperson of the committee, Mr Sam Brooks, appreciated the commitment demonstrated by the four contractors and motivated them to double their efforts to complete the project for the benefit of the community.
He appreciated that some challenges were beyond the contractors control, but stated that some of the issues could be taken up with relevant ministers.
“I do appreciate that some of our processes as government departments are slow but as officers we should come on board and cushion the situation by removing stumbling blocks and ensure that the project bring reliable water supply and sanitation services to the community,” he added.
Earlier on, Water Utilities Corporation head of business, Mr Thabo Ndadi explained that there was a delay in the execution of the project because initially there were gaps in terms of bringing all stakeholders on board, but along the way, all were brought in to facilitate on areas where there were bottlenecks.
He noted that they had a strategic meeting with key stakeholders and since then, they experienced a lot of progress, appreciating that the land authority appointed an officer to work closely with the project implementers.
“We have managed to address a lot of issues surrounding the project and I can assure you that the project is progressing well and will indeed mitigate water shortage and improve on quality and sanitation services in Maun and the surrounding villages,” he added.
Mr Ndadi further noted that the project entailed four contractors and their phases were interlinked, citing that the first contractor focused on water reticulation and sanitation networks which included upgrading of water supply and sanitation works.
Contractor two focused on equipping of boreholes, treatment, storage and construction of storage reservoir, Shashe booster station and the treatment plant at Nxaraga while contractor three would concentrate on sanitation treatment works.
Contractor four focuses on water supply and connection to the Maun’s satellite villages of Sexaxa, Shorobe and Matsaudi.
“We are hopeful that the project will be completed in 2024 and benefit the Maun community and its satellite villages,” said Mr Ndadi.
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