Race Against Time To Complete NWTG
Pauline Dikuelo | Monday September 2, 2019 12:34
The NWTGC project’s progress as at July 2019 was at 73% against the targeted 86%.
However, Project Services manager, George Moeti there has revealed recovery plans in place to catch up on lost time.
“Contractors have requested an extension of time and these are under review. There are also recovery plans in place to catch up on lost time,” he said.
NWTGC project is aimed at providing grid access to the North West part of the country including the Chobe and Ghanzi districts.
The P2.3 billion infrastructure is expected to play an economic role in exporting power from Botswana to the Southern African Developent Community region through the Southern African Power Pool market.
It will also provide grid access to all sectors of the economy including mining, tourism, commercial and domestic.
It will further improve the quality of electricity and reliability of supply in the country, most importantly in the North Western districts, thereby positioning the area as a lucrative investment zone for different economic players. Moeti said the completion of the project would open opportunities to reduce dependency on power imports from Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
“We shall have our own infrastructure to meet the local demand for electricity. The project is currently being implemented in two phases employing more than 2,000 people,” he said.
He, however, noted that Phase one 400/220/132kV transmission lines from Morupule B to Letlhakane Orapa, Maun, Toteng, Gumare, Samochima and Gantsi, including the associated substations, is progressing well. Contracts were signed on November 10, 2017 and work commenced on December 4 that year.
Upon completion of the project, BPC will own the intellectual property rights for 400kV and 132kV tower designs, which were previously procured from ESKOM.
The said areas are currently being supplied from Namibia through cross border distribution networks with limited capacity demand in some of the villages in the said areas exceeding the distribution network capacity leading to compromised quality of supply.
“Contractors have engaged citizen-owned companies to provide transport for equipment and materials from the port of entries to site and also as Clearing Agencies,” he said.
According to Moeti, Phase two transmission lines from Phokoje substation to Dukwi, Pandamatenga and Kasane including associated substations are currently on hold due to financial constraints.
Moeti said progress was affected mainly by challenges in finalising the assessment dates with some Land Boards, due to other engagements.
The current constraints are with Gantsi farms and Shakawe assessment as well as pending compensation reports from Sehithwa to Kuke.“Consultations and wayleave started in March 2017 and to date progress of about 75% has been achieved,” he said.