11 November 2025
Gaborone — Government intends to improve the national roads network through high quality tolled roads to ensure sustainability in the development and maintenance of roads in Botswana.
President Advocate Duma Boko said this when delivering the State-of-the-Nation Address in Gaborone yesterday.
President Boko said the move was in line with the commitment of transforming Botswana into a transport hub for the 360 million strong Southern African Development Committee market. As a transit country, Botswana is poised to play an important role in facilitating intra-Africa trade as the implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement has commenced. He said local transport legislation and standards are to be reviewed, harmonised and aligned with regional economic communities’ expectation.
President Boko further stated that construction of the A3 road had commenced, while feasibility for the A1 dual carriage tolled road, spanning over 600 kilometres was scheduled to commence before the end of the year.
President Boko noted that Botswana’s position in the Southern Africa region provides a distinctive benefit of being a hub for trade and connectivity.
The President indicated that as the country advances economic transformation and integration, rail transport will become increasingly critical to unlocking new markets. In support of the idea, he said government had developed alternative railway lines, citing Mmamabula-Lephalale railway line and Mosetse-Kazungula-Livingstone line as part of SADC’s Strategic Plan of the North-South Corridor (NSC).
On another note, President Boko said has government reviewed the Development Manager Model to assess its fiscal sustainability, which was completed in March and published in August 2025. According to President Boko, the review revealed serious flaws, including procedural gaps, weak stakeholder engagement, and misalignment with legal frameworks.
He highlighted the most concerning were the financial implications, as the structure and magnitude of associated fees placed an unsustainable burden on public resources and in response, government revoked all three Presidential Directives that had approved the model and its governance structures.
He said 16 projects already under construction would continue, using alternative delivery or financing methods, to ensure continuity while reducing fiscal risk and improving oversight.
The President noted that a thorough reassessment of the remaining 132 projects that are still at the conceptual stage is ongoing to explore better-aligned options, as the goal was to ensure value for money and consistency with national priorities.
Given the current fiscal constraints, the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model has become essential for delivering key infrastructure projects without overstretching government resources and in order to make it more responsive, the PPP Framework is being strengthened through the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme, to make it more inclusive, transformative and private sector-led.
Over the next 12 months, urgent milestones included tabling the PPP Bill, deploying PPP functions, resourcing the PPP Unit, and operationalising the appropriate governance structure. These steps would ensure that PPPs deliver value, efficiency and impact, the President said.
With regards to provision of safe drinking water , President Boko said it remains a key priority, stating that implementation of water and sanitation projects during the financial year 2025/2026 had mainly been focused on completion of major projects.
President Boko noted that Projects such as the NSC 2.2, Palapye to Mmamashia Water Supply Pipeline Contracts 1, 2, and 3, NSC 2.3 – Mmamashia to Gaborone Water Supply Scheme; Lobatse Water Master Plan; Molepolole, NSC Connection (Gamononyane); Moshupa Sanitation; Mmamashia Water Treatment Plant; Tswapong South Phase 2; Good Hope Water Supply Phase 2.2 were all at the stages of wrapping up and consolidating final accounts. He said the process of concluding the outstanding works had however been affected by delays in the payment of service providers.
The Maun Water and Sanitation project came to an end with early beneficiation realised for both water and sanitation while the Kanye Sanitation project, which had taken a while to conclude, was now winding up, and most of government institutions had been connected to the system, he explained. Furthermore, he said Boteti South-Central Water Supply was at 98% complete while Kanye Network Rehabilitation stood at 96% completion and would be completed by end of the financial year.
The President said projects that were in their earlier stages of implementation by beginning of 2025/2026 include Molepolole Water Treatment Plant which is about 80% complete, Molepolole Water and Sanitation at 22% completion rate, Werda / Makopong Water Supply; 50% complete, Dimajwe Water Supply; 30% complete and Sowa Water Supply which is 9% complete.
Source: https://shorturl.at/XBpYg
