Africa-Press – Botswana. The Minister of Lands and Water Affairs, Dr Kefentse Mzwinila, says he is not aware of a group of companies owned mainly by Indian nationals or naturalised citizens which might collapse the industry by under charging borehole services.
He said borehole drilling services were not regulated under his ministry and that they operated under trading licenses issued by the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Dr Mzwinila said his ministry, through the Department of Water and Sanitation, only undertook inspections of the machinery and equipment and recommend to the issuing ministry or authority whether to grant the license or not.
He added that his ministry was aware of the regulatory gaps under the Water Act and Borehole Act and was reviewing all the water related regulations of the Botswana Emergency Water Supply and Efficiency (BEWSE) project funded by the World Bank.
“As indicated above, my ministry is not the licensing authority for borehole drilling, therefore, does not maintain employment records for drilling companies,” he said.
Mr Mzwinila said the issue of borehole construction inclusive of casing and type of casing to be used, solely lied between the client and service provider who was the drilling contractor.
He said his ministry, however, provided technical advice on drilling and its related services to customers for free of charge to be better equipped to engage drilling companies.
He added that casing depths were determined by the competency of the rocks being drilled and that due to the complexity of the ground beneath, overburden could not be pre-determined but estimated as well as drilling historical information about the area of interest were normally used to determine the length of casing.
He said generally the eastern side of Botswana had a shallower overburden as compared to the western side, adding that in the eastern margin depths could range from three to about 30 metres depending on location.
He said in the western margin it could be as deep as 60 metres and more .
Dr Mzwinila also said his ministry did not approve the boreholes, but rather registered all boreholes drilled in the country whether completed or abandoned during the drilling process in terms of the Borehole Act.
He said the registration process enabled the ministry to understand the ground water resources and associated geology across the country.
The minister also said his ministry had not received any request from the borehole drilling industry or Business Botswana to protect citizens, and that it should be noted that borehole drilling varied from a simple process of drilling water to complex drilling technologies applied in mineral exploration such as large diameter drilling, directional drilling and horizontal drilling.
He concluded that it was not advisable to restrict the industry to only citizens because as a country we did need more technological advancement in the industry to support other critical sectors such as mining.
Member of Parliament for Selebi Phikwe West, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse had asked the minister if he was aware of recent developments in the borehole drilling industry that had the potential to leave long lasting negative impacts on the sector, aquifers and agriculture.
He further asked if the minister was aware that there was a group of companies owned mainly by Indian nationals and or naturalised citizens which might collapse the industry by under charging borehole services, and that the group of companies employed Indian operators instead of employing citizens.
Mr Keorapetse also said for the group to remain cheap and drive Batswana out of business they had resorted to under casing boreholes by casing only 12 metres of the overburden, yet in Botswana the rock formations started at 24 metres at a minimum.
He asked why the ministry approved the said kind of casing by issuing certificates and what potential future may arise from this, and why citizen drillers were not protected just like other industries and what the minster was going to do about the issue.
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