Zutshwa salt project manager, Ms Amantle Molapi has expressed gratitude towards the growth of the project and its economic impact to the Zutshwa community.Briefing the presidential inspectorate task team during a tour of the project on Wednesday, Ms Molapi said the project has since its resuscitation in May 2015, produced 340 tonnes of salt and accumulated over P361 000 from salt sales since August 2015. The production level, she said, varies per season, adding that in winter they produce 300 bags of 50 kilograms while production reaches its capacity of 750 bags in summer. Ms Molapi explained that the project employs 14 people, which include 10 permanently employed personnel and four temporary employees hired on a rotational basis of three months. “There is a decline in production during winter because the project is reliant on evaporation, which leads to low production in winter,” said Ms Molapi, adding that to work around the limitation, “management is looking into employing technology that could enhance the rate of evaporation in order to achieve consistent production levels in all seasons,” she said. In an effort to widen its scope and increase production capacity, Ms Molapi said the project aims to expand its crystallizing ponds to accommodate market demands as well as increase employment opportunities. She said the project was also looking to widen its scope through mass production and further purification to derive by-products such as soda ash, chlorine and refined salt for human consumption. This, she said, would bring project to a position of self-sustenance.She noted that they were also aiming at diverting salt products from animal consumption to human consumption as their salt samples were recently taken to NAFTRC for nutritional and chemical analysis. She said the results showed that the salt was within acceptable levels of food grade salt. Ms Molapi further commended the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) for its role in spearheading the branding process, adding that the project has been able to significantly increase its sales and establish a new clientele. Giving the project overview, Kgosi Johannes Motlaetsi of Zutshwa said after a decade of sustainability under the management of the German missionaries, the project suffered a major blow when it was handed over to the Qhaa Qhing community trust to manage on behalf of the community.He said the project collapsed months after it was handed over to the trust, and applauded the government for resuscitating the project following its collapse in 2000. The resuscitation of the project, he said, was a milestone since the benefits accrued from the project lead to improved livelihoods of the local community through creation of employment and income generation. The government has invested P5 million in the salt project of which P3.5 million has been used in the procurement of assets, renovation and running expenses. ENDS