14 Jul 2014

Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Dorcas Makgato-Malesu has declared Palapye an economic hub.

Speaking during the community outreach and open air campaign conducted by her ministry in Palapye on July 12, Ms Makgato-Malesu said Palapye had been designated for an economic hub and also one of the six identified economic zones in the country.

She said government had undertaken a number of development projects that transformed the face of Palapye. Ms Makgato-Malesu said her ministry was tasked with creating wealth for the country, one of the methods being creation of sustainable industries.

She said her ministry made concerted efforts to achieve this mandate but at times failed citing the Glass Manufacturing Factory project in Palapye. She said the project was under liquidation with a view to find technical partners to continue with the project.

She said the project had not been abandoned as some believed. She also cited the challenge of land as one of the factors that hindered business development in the country.

However she said her ministry was collaborating with land boards to make business easier, commending Palapye sub-land board for its effort to provide land to the business community.

Furthermore, she informed residents of Palapye that her ministry conducted community outreach activities to sensitise the public about services offered by her ministry together with parastatals under that ministry

She therefore implored residents of Palapye to make use of various services provided by her ministry to create their own wealth. She said her ministry had made strides to achieve its mandate of creating wealth for this country.

She said one of the aspects through, which it created wealth was through citizen empowerment, adding that a bank like Citizen Entrepreneur Development Agency (CEDA) has loaned over P8.5bn to citizen companies hence creating 48 000 jobs.

She said CEDA’s success rate stood at 77 per cent, exceeding the targeted 75 per cent. Regarding economic diversification, Ms Makgato-Malesu said her ministry has diversified the economy but not to the extent it should have.

She stated that different sectors contributed to the country’s economic growth instead of the traditional mining and agricultural sectors.

The Minister also stated that this country is a number one investment destination as shown by the high investment returns. She said this has been made possible because of the country’s conducive business environment. Ends