Following an unspecified incident which resulted in damage to the roof and its lightning conductor, the Botswana Government, the operators of Gaborone's Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (SSKIA), have been forced to fork out USD53'000 (BWP430'000) to pay for emergency repair work. |
| Gaborone SSKIA |
The works have been awarded to Geoflux and William Lee & Associates according to Botswana's Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology.
"This is temporary work as the permanent solution will be done during the completion of the airport. We did the temporary work because the specified roof sheets cannot be bought off the shelf and we had to cover the building to reduce further damage to the building and equipment as it was raining at the time. The lead time for procurement of the roof sheets was more than four weeks,” the ministry said in a statement to The Monitor.
Source [The Monitor]
While no specific cause of the incident has been identified, speculation points to contractors Sinohydro who were last year relieved of their USD65million (BWP527million) contract SSKIA Expansion Project Phase 2 works following allegations of sloppy workmanship and continual time delays. In its defence, Sinohydro at the time had alleged that payments to the firm by the Botswana Government were not made on time thereby delaying the project's progress.
