20 Dec 2015

Business Botswana president, Mr Lekwalo Mosienyane, says the country’s economic development is anchored on the private sector as the engine of economic growth, wealth creation and jobs. 

Speaking at the mayor’s ball in Sowa recently, Mr Mosienyane said it was upon Sowa Town Council to provide world class service to foreign and domestic investors.

He said local authorities including Sowa Town Council were pivotal to the investment drive because they were the first port of call. Mr Mosienyane said Sowa was established as a mining town and like other mining towns in Botswana, it must diversify its economic base away from mining.

He further said mining had been singularly responsible for catapulting Botswana into an upper middle income economy.

Mr Mosienyane also said for turning Sowa into a centre of excellence for investors and services, they must make the process to acquire permits and license as painless as possible.

“Let us make sure that we do not toss our applicants from pillar to post by asking them to produce documents that our officers should access easily from each other,’’ he said.

Furthermore, he said the town proximity to Makgadikgadi pan forms a base for tourism activities in the district, adding that the town can make good business in the tourism sector through linking with Chobe, Ngamiland and Francistown for wetlands.

He encouraged the council investment and marketing team to explore opportunities, which are available such as land servicing, which are key to development of Sowa town.

 

Meanwhile, Sowa mayor, Mr George Maphane said they had invited other towns to come, share ideas and benchmark from them so that they could as well interact with them to improve service delivery and developments. Ends