T Project, Botswana Record

T project, Botswana is our company’s first EPC substation project in Botswana, which is in line with the Citizen Economic Empowerment Programme (CEEP). Under the situation of high outbreak of the global pandemic, obstacles such as the organization under the pandemic influence, the equipment manufacture during the lockdown, difficulties in shipping, curfews in Botswana and so on have been overcome. The project was completed with high quality, which won the reputation of the client and the recognition of the local partners.

The project won the TKEC Outstanding Project Department 2022, of which, Zhang Lei, the project manager, has been on the front lines since contract negotiations and project start-up. After 399 days in a single overseas assignment, 881 days in Botswana in total, and 2036 days since joining the company, he was awarded the honorary title of Outstanding Project Manager of 2022 and Model Worker of 2022.

The project is located in the T region of Botswana, which has faced increasing power shortages in recent years as business has grown and more residents have moved in. In order to improve the power supply problem in the region, we signed a turnkey contract with Botswana Power Corporation for a 132/11kV substation. The project has been handed over in 2022. The completion of the substation will provide sufficient power supply for the residents and commercial development of the region and several nearby regions, and help the local economy to develop.

Project Key Highlights：

Quality assurance, Cost control & reduction, Contract amount increase

Contract amount increase

Taking the contract as the benchmark, the project department actively consulted and communicated with the client, fully identified the client needs, provided solutions and achieved an increase of 1 million CNY in contract amount in the project execution stage.

The second marketing

In line with the second marketing principle of quality assurance and cost control, the project department optimized the design scheme and construction process, actively negotiated with the employer on the scope of work that could create profit on site, and achieved remarkable cost reduction, far exceeding expectations.

Other innovations

Considering that this substation is an unmanned substation, the project department suggested to the employer to install access control and CCTV system after the handover of the project to increase the reliability of the security system; in order to prevent the potential risk caused by the fall of operation and maintenance personnel into the drainage ditch, the project department suggested to configure the grating cover for the drainage ditch of the whole substation.

Deep market cultivation & Consolidation of territorial resources

The civil and electrical construction of the project were subcontracted to local companies. With our years of experience and technology in international general contracting, we provided technical training to a large number of local laborers and promoted the rapid growth of local companies, which won the praise of the employer and local government. Since the beginning of the project, the project department has paid attention to the recruitment and training of local staff. Except for our three Chinese employees (project manager, commercial manager and site manager), the rest of the project functionaries are local recruits. The project department has successfully set up a local executive team with comprehensive functions and rich experience.

Standardized project execution

The construction of this project is under the direct control of Botswana Power Corporation headquarters, the supervisor is a British consulting firm, and the contract is on FIDIC terms. The project department has developed a comprehensive implementation planning, execution plan, construction plan and other standardized process documents for this contract.

Energization, completion & handover

The project department invited the consultant and employer to participate in the pre-acceptance of the project before the project had the conditions for energization in accordance with the idea of early defect elimination, partial energization and partial handover, and organized the pre-defect elimination work after obtaining the list of defects. Most of the defect elimination work had been completed before the project was energized. The client issued the handover certificate on the same day of enegization.