Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) and Namibia Water Corporation (NamWater) recently signed a letter of intent to collaborate in water management, The Business Weekly & Review has established.
The collaboration includes possible capacity building and attachment initiatives, benchmarking on key business processes, skills sharing and exchange programmes. The letter was signed by the CEOs of the two utilities, Messrs. Gaselemogwe Senai for WUC and Abraham Nehemiah for NamWater at the end of a two-day benchmarking visit by a NamWater delegation to Gaborone that included a tour of Masama Boreholes and Gaborone Dam to appreciate the infrastructure and distribution of water to different parts of the Greater Gaborone.
According to Senai, the letter of intent will set the right platform and framework for future collaboration and agreements. He added that the two corporations were already in talks about the possibility of sourcing water from the Atlantic Ocean to Windhoek and further to Gaborone in a programme to ensure that the two countries have enough water and to enhance the economic integration of the SADC region in the long run.
“We are also exploring other possibilities through the Chobe/Zambezi River to get 497 cubic metres of water per annum which we are readying ourselves to tap into,” Senai said.
He explained that the long-term water security strategies are meant to address a massive water divide and deficit projected for 2029 because Botswana’s nine dams currently have capacity to carry water only up to 2029.
The head of NamWater, Nehemiah, said the objective for benchmarking was to explore how the two corporations may assist each other. The intention, he added, is to have long-term collaboration in finding solutions to water challenges that face the two water supply entities. “We have learnt a lot in Botswana and we will take a lot with us back home that will help us strategise and make sure we work towards achieving sustainable water supply in our country,” Nehemiah said.
NamWater will reciprocate by arranging for Botswana delegation to visit Namibia, he added. Nehemiah noted that the letter of intent is meant to ensure that the cooperation is enhanced. “We can then do cross fertilisation of ideas on how to look at more integrated water supply networks and systems,” he said.
NamWater is a commercial entity that supplies water in bulk to industries, municipalities and the Directorate of Rural Water Supply in Namibia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, as well as to rural communities across the country.
