20 Jun 2024

Government is calling upon the private sector to facilitate community developments through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

Minister of Minerals and Energy, Mr Lefoko Moagi said this at the launch of a P10 million CSR initiative by Jindal Africa, a power development company that originates from India.

The four villages of Pallaroad, Dovedale, Mmaphashalala and Mookane in Mahalapye East constituency benefited from the benevolence as they received textbooks for each primary school and clinical equipment for use by clinics in the villages.

Mr Moagi said the initiative was in line with Vision 2036, which advocated for amongst others, human social development as well as development of a knowledge-based economy as contained in the President’s Reset Agenda.

He also commended Jindal Africa chairperson, Mr Naveen Jindal for setting aside a budget of P10 million for the CSR initiative.

He said government took education and health seriously to the extent that education was almost free for those who could not afford private school fees and hospitals.

He said good results in the education sector could not be achieved without a healthy community, hence the prioritisation of the two sectors as the beneficiaries for the CSR initiative.

The minister implored learners of the four primary schools to take care of the textbooks. 

The minister further said government through the ministry was committed to seeing the villages within the vicinity of the project location being supported to improve the quality of the lives of the people and not being left behind.

Mr Moagi also indicated that the ministry was implementing a number of power generation projects, which Batswana would continue to benefit from.

He said government was implementing the Mmadinare Solar Cluster 100MW Solar Plant Project, which commenced construction in March, the Jwaneng 100MW Solar Plant Project, which will commence construction soon and the Letlhakane 100MW Solar Plant Project.

He said the ministry through Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) was also implementing the 12 grid-tied Solar PV Plant projects with an aggregate capacity of 35MW.

“All these projects together with the Jindal Power Plant Project will improve the security of power supply for the country in terms of self-sufficiency and the country will also be a net exporter of power to the region,” he said.

He said government was also currently implementing the zero connection cost programme for Batswana; the rural electrification programme to increase access to electricity, the Biogas programme and rooftop solar with the overall aim of increasing access to energy for Batswana.

“The ministry is implementing the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for electricity generation, which seeks to ensure self-sufficiency in the electricity supply industry for the country. This plan outlines the least cost development options for electricity infrastructure capacities for the country,” he said.

Mr Moagi also said the IRP was approved and launched in December 2020 and it was currently being implemented over a 20-year period spanning from 2020 to 2040.

He said the Mmamabula power generation project, in its nature and magnitude, was the first major part of the IRP as it sought to amongst others address the country’s electricity base load requirements. 

“The project was being implemented under the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model whereby a private company was given the responsibility to design, finance, construct, own, operate and maintain and decommission the power plant at the end of its economic life”. 

When giving the project background, country director at Jindal Africa, Mr Neeraj Saxena said they carried out assessment and needs analysis for the Mmamabula project communities and the assessment identified some critical technical and financial needs in terms of education and health amongst others.

He said the launch was the first step towards achieving the CSR goal and was based on the three pillars, which were education, health and women empowerment.

Jindal Africa is power development company, which has been contracted by the ministry to construct a power station with a combined capacity of 600MW and a corresponding coal mine.

The electricity generated from the plant will then be supplied to BPC  over a minimum period of 30 years starting from December 2026 upon completion and commissioning of the power plant. Ends