The Midweek Sun

Khato Civil’s MasamaMmam­ashia pipeline completed

Water shortage woes almost over for Greater Gaborone

- BY DIKARABO RAMADUBU

Constructi­on of the 100 kilometres MasamaMmam­ashia emergency water pipeline by Khato Civils and South Zambezi at a cost of P783 million has finally been completed.

It is now a matter of days before the people of greater Gaborone area enjoy the additional potable water. The emergency project started on 1st June 2020 and under the agreement signed between Water Utilities Corporatio­n and Khato was to have been completed in 12 months. But Khato gave itself 10 months to finish since they use state-of-the-art modern equipment. The Midweek Sun has it on good authority that the project is ready as Khato is now doing final touches to hand over the project to the relevant ministry. The completion of the project will certainly mark the end of ‘dry taps’ in most parts of greater Gaborone. Masama well-fields yield 64 million litres of water per day. In order to address the deficit, WUC decided to come with the Masama-Mmamashia1­00 kms as a permanent pipeline conveying water from Masama boreholes to close the deficit and also reduce delivery time of water in the greater Gaborone area. To WUC the constructi­on of a separate 100 kms line conveying water from Masama made economic sense because they were only required to spend money on disinfecti­on or chlorinati­on process since undergroun­d water is considered clean. WUC says the option is more reliable and sustainabl­e compared to developing and injecting water into the proposed NSC 2.2 pipeline which is expensive and unsustaina­ble. The potential maximum abstractio­n from the three well-fields of Masama, Makhuwane, and Masama West is 91, 498m3 per day. A tour of the project is scheduled for today (Wednesday) with the purpose of providing media with a detailed update of the project. The project employed over 400 casual labourers from the four villages – Leshibitse, Artesia, Rasesa and Morwa - that the pipeline passes through. Khato also sub-contracted many local companies from caterers, cleaning services, security, service providers to hotels and lodges. The project also benefitted a local farmer who rented four hectares of land used as sites in Artesia. Botswana Power Corporatio­n (BPC) has also been given a transforme­r worth over P500 000. Khato will leave its footprint under its Corporate Social Responsibi­lity (CSR) as they have given the four Kgatleng villages which the pipeline passes through, some meaningful projects for their communitie­s. Khato has also been awarded a contract to construct a treatment plant to increase the capacity of the existing plant in order to accommodat­e the water from the NSC 2 water pipeline.

 ??  ?? Simbi Phiri, Khato Civil Chairman
Simbi Phiri, Khato Civil Chairman

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