Energy and Mining Minister Lejone Mpotjoane says the ministry will quantify the financial losses incurred during the implementation of the Belo Electrification project to establish the extent of the damage suffered by the country.
Mpotjone said this yesterday during a media tour of the Ha Belo Sub Station in Botha Bothe. The tour comes ahead of the official commissioning of the project by Prime Minister Sam Matekane on Friday this week.
Mpotjone stressed that the government was determined to hold accountable those who failed to properly oversee the project and establish what went wrong.
He noted that Lesotho was on a long journey towards ensuring that communities have access to electricity and that factories are opened to create employment.
“There are people who are determined to destroy our country but we won’t allow that,” he warned, adding that the project lacked supervision, with some people seemingly prioritising reducing costs and completing the work quickly at the expense of proper oversight.
Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Energy and Mining, Tankiso Phapano said the project had to start afresh because, upon taking over, the second contractor assessed the work already completed and found that it did not meet the project’s requirements and standards.
