21 Aug 2024

Kuke and Qabo settlements in the Ghanzi District are part of the 20 new villages that will be considered for electricity connection during the 2024/25 financial year alongside network extension in 92 villages.

Answering a parliamentary question on August 15, Minister of Minerals and Energy, Honourable Lefoko Moagi said from the P505 million cost for the electricity projects in all the 112 villages, the budget for Kuke was P30 982 271.13, while Qabo was P21 657 323.69, with both projects involving connection of households under the National Electricity Standard Connection Cost (NESC) free connection initiative.

He also said mapping was complete and consultants had been appointed for both settlements and both projects were expected to be complete by end of the 2025/26 financial year.

He noted that measures to expedite the electrification process in Kuke and Qabo included the breakdown of the project into work packages and awarding to different contractors to complete the projects on time.

However, he noted that Bere and Kacage were not included in this financial year’s projects due to high electrification costs, but the two would be considered through the off-grid programme.

He said the estimated cost for electrifying Bere was P58 million without service connection for the households, against a population of 874 people. He said the Kacage project was estimated to cost P70 million against a population of 778 people.
Consequently, he said the two were not included in the projects for the current financial year, due to the project scoping of considering proximity to existing infrastructure, village population, cost of reticulation and district percentage coverage.

Furthermore, he noted that through the Integrated Resource Plan, government indicated the need to procure 12 grid tied Solar PV plants of capacity ranging between 1MW and 4MW across the country. He said Ghanzi, with a 4MW capacity, was one of the 12 identified to make the total of 35MW.

Again, he told Parliament that construction was scheduled to start in February next year and be operational in December next year, and was being implemented through an independent power producer programme with BPC as the offtaker.

However, he noted that the project was not targeting any specific villages since it was grid tied hence the power would be evacuated into the BPC transmission grid.

The minister was responding to Ghanzi North MP, Mr John Thiite who had asked whether Kuke and Qabo had been included in the 2024/25 financial year for electricity connection and progress on the design phase for the two settlements.

Mr Thiite also wanted to know if a budget was allocated and the specific amounts earmarked for the connection.

Additionally, he enquired about the status of the planned electricity connections for Bere and Kacage settlements and if they were included in any upcoming financial planning.

He had asked the minister to outline measures to expedite the electrification process in Kuke and Qabo to meet the communities’ urgent needs.

He further wanted to know about the progress made in the implementation of solar photovoltaic projects in Ghanzi and which specific villages were to be connected through such initiatives. Ends