Botswana to accelerate pipeline construction

31st July 2015

Botswana to accelerate pipeline construction

IRRIGATION Botswana plans to use some of the water from the Zambezi river for agriculture
Photo by: Bloomberg

The Botswana government is accelerating construction of a P16-billion ($1.6- billion) pipeline meant to carry water from the Zambezi river to the south of Botswana, as the government wants to complete the project in seven years.

The negotiations, and other preparations, are expected to be complete by 2016, with final implementation expected in 2026.

Botswana’s Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources permanent secretary Kgomotso Abi says government is reviewing its original designs for the project.

He adds that the Ministry has reconsidered the initial idea as the country is facing several water risks, such as the Gaborone dam and other sources potentially drying up. The project is, therefore, seen as a priority.

Botswana has been forced to implement water rationing three days a week, which has caused seven-hour supply cuts in the capital and surrounding areas. In May, the country’s central bank cited electricity and water shortages as one of the threats to the country’s economic growth in 2015.

In 2009, Botswana submitted a formal request to the Southern African Development Community to draw 495-million cubic metres a year of water from the Zambezi river. Initially, the country intended to use the water for a commercial agriculture project in the north-west of Botswana, but the water shortage in the south has forced government to reprioritise its plans, says Abi.

“We are working on the terms of reference for consultants who will help review the original designs for the project. We have to somehow [expedite the project] because we do not have the luxury of time.”

The project, which Botswana is negotiating with its Zambian counterparts, will be rolled out in two phases.

The first phase will see the construction of a pipeline leading to the Pandamatenga farms for agricultural purposes, while the second phase will see the construction of a pipeline from the Zambezi river to Francistown, which is Botswana’s second-largest city. The pipeline will then proceed to the southern part of the country, where there is a dire shortage of water.

Abi highlights that Botswana has significant water infrastructure that carries water from the Letsibogo dam, in the northern part of the country, to the southern part, over a distance of more than 400 km, to Gaborone. The Zambezi pipeline is meant to be an extension of this infrastructure.

“We have quite a few dams in northern Botswana but we do not have adequate infrastructure to bring the water to the southern part of the country – hence, the government has decided to embark on this project,” says Abi.

He adds that Botswana has negotiated treaties with other affected countries to tap 495-million cubic metres of water from the Zambezi river for drinking and agriculture purposes.