Question NW438 to the Minister of Mineral Resources

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26 July 2018 - NW438

Profile picture: Hugo, Mr RT

Hugo, Mr RT to ask the Minister of Mineral Resources

What (a) amount in funding did his department contribute towards equipping two groundwater boreholes which were handed over to the Beaufort West Local Municipality in the Western Cape by the Council for Geoscience on 13 February 2018, (b) amount did his department spend on the handing-over ceremony and (c) are the details of the procedures followed to select the service providers for the handing-over ceremony?

Reply:

a) The groundwater was discovered by the Council for Geoscience (CGS) during the execution of the Karoo Deep Drilling baseline and geo-environmental study for the purposes of possible shale gas exploration. Two high-yielding boreholes were donated (at no cost to the municipality) to the Beaufort West Municipality who incurred the cost of the pumping infrastructure for one of the borehole. Although the CGS spent just over R495 000 to drill the two boreholes, the value of the water provided to the water-scarce municipality (to assist just over 44 000 people) is in the order of R1 million per month and could easily reach about R13 million a month based on level 6 water restriction rates for the Western Cape Province.

b) The CGS spent about R423 000 towards the handover ceremony. Flight and accommodation of CGS personnel have not been included in these calculations.

c) The CGS selected the service providers through the Beaufort West Municipality supplier chain department. The procedures were followed accordingly.

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