21 Feb 2017

Kasane and Plateau residents are contemplating to invest in a one stop market project as part of the ongoing consultations on the recently announced P10 million per constituency community programme.

Presenting the business idea at a kgotla meeting recently, the chairperson of Kasane Business Community Mr Onkabetse Mogwe emphasised that Chobe district needed a new and attractive market centre as the current market place is small and not conducive for trade.

Mr Mogwe noted that the current market place forces traders to vacate when it rains, losing out on potential sales and also lamented that apart from the small place, the current market place rent is high, therefore the Village Development Committee (VDC) could use the land behind the market place to enlarge stalls for more businesses to operate from.

He welcomed the idea of government request to constituents to come up with infrastructural development projects that will benefit them, to survive, sustain growth, generate income and create employment.

“The VDC could give their unused land for the building of a four story building, which is worth P4.7 million, which will aid the community to utilise it in order to benefit the youth who are in dire need of affordable office space to create a one stop shop,” he said.

Another idea was to involve Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) to help come up with regulations collaborating with lodges to accommodate at least four to six land cruisers, which will be owned by the community to transport tourists and share the profits collectively as the community.

He referenced Swaziland and Kenya to have the same model and it was working efficiently, noting the second business proposal was building an entertainment centre, which will benefit both tourists and the locals.

This suggestion was welcomed by the Cllr for Plateau Mr Boitumelo Kanyetu, who noted that this could convince visiting tourists to hang out a little bit longer in Botswana as they would be more to do.

Kgosi Tshegofatso Samoka commended the suggestions made by the business community and urged the public to adopt them as they will benefit the region immensely, especially in creating jobs. BOPA