BoFiNeT awards P200m contracts
Isaac Pinielo | Tuesday October 21, 2014 17:11
Speaking at the ceremony, BoFiNeT CEO, Mabua Mabua said the contracts were estimated to cost P200 million. “They all extend our fibre backbone by an approximated further 1,000km added to the existing fibre. They are all government funded with BoFiNeT as an implementing agency,” he said.
Mabua further said the projects were consistent with the citizen empowerment initiatives and intentions. He noted that each one of the five contracts had citizen participation either through shareholding or a joint venture that could easily exceed 50 percent of the total contract values.
“This relationship with the contractors fits within the next 12 months. Since we have we been successful in the last 12 months, raising the BoFiNeT profile and brand to the highest level for a new entrant like us, we do not expect any of the five project streams to be a disappointment,” he said.
According to BoFiNeT, the areas to be covered are the Sekoma-Tsabong route optical fibre project, which covers a distance of 360 kilometres. The tender was awarded to Dimension Data. The Sehithwa-Mohembo optical fibre project was awarded to Complant Botswana and Mepi Building Construction. It covers a stretch of 325 kilometres. Additionally, joint companies, Four Arrows and Echoes Holdings over a distance of 362 kilometres, would carry out the Maun-Ngoma optical fibre project, which covers a distance of 362 kilometres. The other projects are the Maun local loops optical fibre project awarded to MMP Construction and Nowaji Services, as well as the Kasane-Kazungula local loops fibre project, which will be carried out by Business Online.
BOFINET project management executive, Keabetswe Segole said these projects would be completed in July next year. He noted that the purpose of the projects was to implement a network that all services providers in the country could use to provide reliable and fast internet, data, as well as voice services to communities in the affected areas. “This will connect government offices, businesses, schools and individuals,” he said. Segole also stated that the projects involved the construction of underground fibre cable, which involves excavating and digging trenches along the routes.
“This digging will be done using specialised machinery known as mole plough and the cables will be pulled through the ducts and terminating at a site with electronic equipment,” he explained.
Segole further said the project had started with immaculate planning by BoFiNet partners as they drove and walked the distance to be covered by the cable. The next step was to open tenders used to invite potential contractors. He added that they had commenced with Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) activities and kgotla consultations with merafe in villages as well as relevant stakeholders to let them know where this cable would pass.
BoFiNet, which holds the national telecommunication backbone infrastructure, was born out of the BTC privatisation process. Assets held by BoFiNeT include the Trans-Kalahari Optical Fibre, the metropolitan fibre loops, the Gaborone/Francistown fibre loop, the Dense Wave Division Multiplex fibre system and both the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) and the West Africa Cable System (WACS).