The Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Ponatshego Kedikilwe, on Friday officiated at the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of Thune Dam in the Bobirwa Sub District.
The minister said that the dam that is to be constructed will benefit the residents of Bobirwa region and relieve them from poverty.
He said that the construction of the Thume Dam came during a difficult time when the country and the world at large were going through a global economic crisis.
“Government allowed such projects to continue because of their particular significance to the economy and I believe that this project is a major face lift for the people of the Bobirwa through job creation by introducing potential job opportunities through tourism, fishing industry and irrigation of 300 hectares of land near Mathathane,” he said.
Kedikilwe said that Botswana is a drought prone country with water shortage remaining as one of the biggest challenges, including limited sites for water resources development.
He stated that to this end, the government has introduced a number of initiatives, which are aimed at improving water supply for the country’s current needs as well as sustaining it for its future needs. Among other dams in the country, the minister gave the example of the Dikgatlhong Dam, which holds a capacity of 400 million cubic meters of water. He pointed out that Dikgatlhong Dam is geared to deliver a total of 62 million cubic meters of water to the Southern part of the country annually, adding that this is in an endeavor to address water shortage challenges.
“Thune Dam will hold a capacity of 90 million cubic meters of water and it is allocated a budget of P650 million, including realignment and construction of the road and new bridge,” he said.
He added that the costs of the construction of this dam are expected to rise with the introduction of other components of the project, such as the pipelines, reservoirs and the treatment plant.
Kedikilwe revealed that 10 villages in the Bobirwa area will benefit from the dam. He went on to highlight that the dam will be augmenting the current supply of the Letsibogo Dam, which is situated near Mmadinare Village and a combined abstraction of the two dams will be a conveyance of 85 million cubic meters annually.
“The Tswapong Cluster (22 villages) will be supplied from the Lotsane Dam with an inclusive supply for 150 hectares of irrigation,” he told those gathered for the ceremony.
The minister stated that to empower citizens in this endeavor, the government has decided to reserve some components in the projects for the local contractors. He added that for Dikgatlhong dam, the components include the road construction, security, Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) consultancy and blasting at a total budget of P37 million.
Thune Dam follows the construction of other dams in the Central District, like the Letsibogo, Lotsan and Dikgatlhong Dams, as a way of addressing the water shortage challenges in the country.
