Speaking during a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the beginning of the construction of the P1.2 billion Dikgatlhong Dam in Robelela near Serule on Friday, Kedikilwe said demand for domestic water supply and industrial development is rising at a high rate. Unprecedented mining activity in and around Francistown and the proposed Mmamabula Energy Project were threatening to create an unprecedented imbalance between water supply and demand. Kedikilwe said Botswana's 2004 Millennium Development Goals report had identified water scarcity as one of the issues likely to present constraints to development. But his ministry was doing all it could to cope with the situation.
"To this effect, there are a number of initiatives aimed at improving water supply for the country's current needs as well as sustaining it for future generations," the Minister said. He said for Government to continue to develop more water resources at prohibitive costs depended on the state of its financial resources; but these resources were stretched by a host of other national needs of equal importance. Total estimated investment to improve water supply capacity of 347 million cubic metres to 900 million cubic metres is in the region of P4billion. "It is important to note that the depth of our financial resources to develop these resources is dependent on, among other things, our ability to operate and manage the existing ones effectively and efficiently,"
