Government continues to invest significantly in strategic infrastructure to support the countrys growth and competitiveness.
The desire to accelerate the investment agenda is driven by mindset change and hinges its success on the adoption of a new approach known as the Development Manager Model.
The Development Manager (DM), launched on October 24, by President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi, is described as a substitute process of delivering infrastructural projects of desired quality on time and within budget.
Simply put, the Development Manager model is an engineering, procurement and construction model. The process is such that not everything is done by bureaucrats. A lot of work is given to the private sector in line with government policy of private sector taking the lead in project delivery, said the Minister of Transport and Public Works, Mr Eric Molale in an interview.
Mr Molales interview with BOPA follow President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisis State-of- the-Nation Address on Monday having indicated that other projects that would be covered under the DM model would include the construction of roads, schools, hospitals and clinics across the country.
Minister Molale said though not a new concept in the countrys construction sector, the DM model was implemented in the past to execute projects and were done on time, within budget, and to the desired quality.
He said such projects were done without structural defects, were still intact to date and not showing any sign of getting weary.
One of the landmark projects that were in the past executed through the DM model was the Shashe Complex, which gave birth to the copper/nickel mine of Selebi Phikwe.
According to Mr Molale, the Shashe Complex was a menu of projects that had to be undertaken simultaneously by government during the inception stage of the Selebi Phikwe Mine.
He said Shashe Complex, which was undertaken in the early 1970s, included the construction of Shashe Dam, a water pipeline from the dam to Selebi Phikwe, a railway line from Serule to Selebi Phikwe, a power station at the mouth of the mine, a township that was developed from virgin land, a hospital, schools and other major projects. Some of the projects that were effectively executed through the DM was the accelerated land servicing programme in urban areas.
I was part of the Catalyst Project Team as under secretary, Urban and Housing at the then Ministry of Local Government, Lands and Housing. We had to service land in all urban areas including semi-urban areas like Ghanzi and Kasane, he said
This also includes Sowa projects such as the construction of a 120km rail line from Francistown, a 40km road from Dukwi, a township almost a replica of Selebi Phikwe but on a smaller scale. It was also done successfully, on time and within budget, said Mr Molale. The concept was also used to deliver the first-ever government houses in Gaborone.
Mr Molale said between 1989/1990 the DM model was used to construct the 400 public servants pool houses behind Game City.
He said at the time he was the chairperson of the Pool Housing Committee and government entered into an agreement with Time Projects. By then, Mr Molale said there was no housing for civil servants in Gaborone.
They bought and serviced the land, built houses and gave us the keys in 12 months, and the houses are still standing. It was an engineering, procurement, construction, management and handover project, he said.
Other DM projects are the Jwaneng Cut 8 at a cost of P28bn, which Mr Molale said was a success not only in terms of project implementation, but equally on employment creation, engaging local contractors.
This is an illustration that the DM concept is not new in this country. It is only that we probably thought it was a once-off model, but it has proven beyond doubt that it is the way to go, he said.
He said government had officially embraced the DM concept by signing P13bn worth of contracts with nine companies that would manage the development.
The nine companies appointed Development Managers are HSNV Mining, Okavango Consortium, HATCH Associates, Nama Consulting Engineers/Knight Piesold Joint Venture, Bigen Africa Services, K-Hill Consortium, Pro Service Consulting, Zutari and DEVMCO Group. Though believed that it would limit employment opportunities, Mr Molale has dismissed the thought as false. The DM model is also believed to empower the local community by growing citizen-owned companies.
Under the concept, some citizen-owned companies that were involved in past DM projects grew from levels C and D to E and became competent enough to do major projects on their own. You will remember construction such companies as Boshwe, Tswana Construction, Tlhora Boroko, Aga Kgalagadi, Ngandwe that grew to E category as they were nurtured and aided by well-established companies while engaged in projects executed by the DM model, added Mr Molale.
With the DM approach, he said local companies would be sustained and aided to grow to become international and bid in other countries.
He said the DM would observe the Citizen Economic Empowerment laws, policies, strategies and programmes including affirmative action.
As we start the projects, we are going to employ more and more people, he said. The appointed Development Managers have 143 projects to undertake, varying in size including Francistown-Nata Road, Lerala Hospital, Kasane Hospital, A1 Dual Carriage Road.
He observed that in the past some projects were not done as expected due to poor monitoring and supervision, citing among others, the Maitengwe Police Station, which was taking longer than expected to complete.
With the DM model we apportion the risk such that those who do the job for government must also carry some risk. Should anything happen, they must also pay. Holding people accountable curbs corruption drastically, he said.
Mr Molale emphasised that the DM model would bring to an end situation where projects were completed, only to show defects immediately after they were put in use, citing the Dibete Police Station and the Department of Roads and Transport office in Serowe.
He said Matsiloje-Francistown road, a 40km stretch, was awarded in 2018 and is yet to be completed, Tutume-Maitengwe road was also pending completion even though long awarded in 2017, Moshupa-Thamaga road, which was supposed to have been completed in December 2022, needs P15m more to complete. Mr Molale gave assurance that the model was appropriate to address current challenges affecting project implementation in the country.
I joined this Ministry last year January and one of the first projects that I was invited to, was a groundbreaking ceremony at Botswana Accountancy College, which is probably the same size building as Maitengwe Police Station.
By January 2023, the building was in use, but Maitengwe Police Station is in its fifth year of construction. You can see that we had to change gears because of what was happening. Under DM, we have systems to analyse and capture anything suspicious to be corruption, said Minister Molale.