08 Feb 2016

Palapye will have a new shopping mall in 18 months.

The new mall called “Diphalana Junction Mall” along the Palapye/Francistown road is the baby of Mr Benny Thomas of Benchicks Investments Pty and will be developed by Digital Base.

The mall project, which is funded to the tune of P30 million, is expected to employ 1 200 people upon completion. Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony in Palapye on Friday, acting Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Sadique Kebonang said the government was always encouraging investors to invest in the country.

He said he was delighted that this call has been heeded by a young Motswana by developing a shopping mall in Palapye with the assistance of CEDA, a parastatal under his ministry.

He thanked Mr Thomas and encouraged other Batswana to follow suit by using services offered by financiers such as CEDA to bring about developments in the country.

He said upon completion, the mall would keep the economy of Palapye viable and would create employment for the local people, both during construction and upon completion. The project is expected to employ 480 people during construction.

However, he raised concern over poor service delivery in government departments and parastatals, and urged the public to engage the area MP so that he intervenes whenever they incur the problem of poor service delivery in government offices.

The area MP, Mr Moiseraele Goya added that the dream of the people of Palapye has always been to see Palapye shedding off its village tag to become a town. He said the dream was being kept alive by the phenomenal growth that the village continues to experience. He said Palapye was experiencing a construction boom, adding that one of the factos that made it possible for Benchicks to think of investing in Palapye was land.

He said the new development, together with ongoing development projects, was a clear indication that the task of transforming Palapye village into a fully-fledged town is progressing well. Ends