In commemoration of 47 years since Botswana started using its own currency Pula & Thebe, President Dr Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi officially opened the newly redeveloped Bank of Botswana headquarters in Gaborone.
The multimillion-pula investment by the central bank, named Pula-Thebe Project is the single largest capital project ever undertaken by the Bank of Botswana. The main contractors of the redevelopment were Stefanutti Stocks (Pty) Ltd and employed 778 people.
“The project was approved by the Bank ‘s Board in October 2017. The construction began in April 2019 and was guided by a framework of governance and risk management, continuous quality control, environmental and waste management as well as occupational health and safety plans. Notably, over 3-million-man hours were worked without lost-time injury,” said Bank of Botswana Governor Moses Pelaelo.The new facility will have extensive solar photo-voltaic panels on all major roofs and part of the parkade, reducing reliance on BPC power and possibly offload to the national grid during weekends, when there is low internal demand.
“The cost for the construction is 850 million pula excluding VAT, ” said Minister of Finance Peggy Serame.
“The cost for the construction is 850 million pula excluding VAT, ” said Minister of Finance Peggy Serame.A modernized and digital “banking hall” serves Government revenue collection and direct processing into government accounts at the Bank of Botswana. Through the combination of energy-saving technologies, passive climate control via the building envelope and photovoltaic power generation, the core building will achieve carbon Net-Zero status.
The design, concept and environmental areas, it achieved the targeted 6-star Green Building design rating, which places the building in the ‘world leadership’ category, resulting in two awards at the Green Building Council of South Africa’s annual awards ceremony in November 2022: the “Highest Rated Building Award” and the “African Award”.
