GOV’T TO SPEND NEARLY P13 BN ON INFRASTRUCTURE
Finance Minister, Peggy Serame on Monday told lawmakers that government will continue to devote more resources to infrastructure development to support sustainable growth and improve livelihoods.
She was speaking during the 2023/24 budget speech. The Minister, disclosed that a development budget P12.73 billion) has been proposed for the implementation of infrastructure development projects.
Water, electricity, construction are among the sectors that wil benefit from the above budget. “In order to address water supply and sanitation challenges across the country, major projects on water and sanitation will continue to be implemented in the 2023/2024 financial year,” she told lawmakers.
Some of the planned projects include rehabilitation of water networks especially areas prone to frequent breakdowns such as Kanye and Molepolole. Botswana, which has invested heavily on power projects is yet to be self sufficient on electricity. “To enable the country to be a net exporter of
electricity, implementation of projects under the Integrated Resource Plan will continue to be fast-tracked to ensure security of electricity supply,” Serame disclosed.
The Integrated Resource Plan encompasses mainly green
technology projects geared to addressing, amongst others, the issue of climate change whilst reducing the country’s high electricity import bill. Government plans to raise the contribution of renewable energy in total power generation from 1 percent to 30 percent by 2030. The Finance Minister also added that, government has approved the Development Manager Model of project delivery in December 2022 which will be used to implement, among others, road projects, office buildings and staff houses, hospital facilities, schools, storm water drainage, development of the Leather Industry Park as well as the Kasane-Kazungula