22 Oct 2014

The initiative taken by Kgatleng District Development Foundation (KDDF) in partnership with Kgatleng District Council and Clean Energy Botswana will not only help augment power problems, but will also solve the current challenge of waste management problem facing local authorities. 

The projects, include energy power plant, green cement factory and carbon capture plant together with the construction of a bus and taxi rank and a mall which would definitely change the scenery of Kgatleng district.

Giving a keynote address to mark the official ground breaking of two projects worth P1.3 billion, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Mr Peter Siele said clean energy Botswana was committed to developing, commissioning and operating the waste to energy facility.

“Today indeed these have put together a consortium of multi-national corporations of repute who are investing P1.1 billion,” said Minister Siele.

Mr Siele said the project would be developed in two phases with phase 1 being the processing of 20 ton of fresh waste per day and 1.320 kilowatts of electricity which shall be used to power cement and carbon capture plant.

In phase 2, the facility would expand to handle 400 tons of waste per day and produce 15 megawatts of green electricity and 100 tons of green cement per day, he said. He added that phase 1 would be ready by January 2016 while phase 2 would be commissioned in June 2016, where more than 1 500 direct jobs would be created.

“Overtime the project will mine the existing landfill at Pilane and others in the vicinity, to reclaim the landfill sites. This mining will also serve to increase the volumes of waste that the facility will process,” Mr Siele said.

The minister also commissioned the ground breaking of the construction of the bus rank project and a mall which Kgatleng District Council shelved due to recession challenges, but the council and foundation approached the private sector for assistance leasing four hectares of land for construction of mall. 

Mr Siele said they were receiving the rent upfront to enable them construct a bus rank which would cost P200 million and would take about 15 months to complete. 

He added that the projects came at time when government through the new Local Government Act of 2012 was encouraging local authorities to come up with ways of expanding their revenue base. The act, he said, encouraged and created an enabling environment for partnerships to thrive as local authorities carry out specific economic activities through such partnerships.

The executive chairperson of KDDF, Rev. Mpho Moruakgomo said the project was done through public private partnerships in order to address challenges facing local communities amid tight economic environment.

He said the trust exists to promote socio-economic development and mobilise resources for development endeavours of the district and also foster community development programmes.

He said in Kgatleng they would be starting a green revolution and green economy movement for employment and wealth creation. Rev. Moruakgomo further said the journey for this achievement was not easy but thanked all KDDF board members for working together to realise this dream.

He encouraged leaders across board to rise and provide requisite leadership and find solutions to challenges affecting them locally.

Rev. Moruakgomo stated that they would walk and talk local economic development, public private partnerships and other developmental approaches that are grassroot oriented, premised on indigenous knowledge and enhancing the value chain of community livelihood systems. ENDS