19 Oct 2017

SPEDU chief executive officer, Dr Mokubung Mokubung has said some projects planned for Selebi Phikwe following the closure of the BCL were progressing well.

Updating the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing Development Mr Nonofo Molefhi, also Member of Parliament for Selebi Phikwe East on the projects, Dr Mokubung said the projects included the setting up of a pharmaceutical plant.

He said the plant which would produce among others anti-retroviral drugs, Intravenous Fluids, pills and liquid based medicinal solutions, was progressing well.

Dr Mokubung noted that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the project is complete and has been submitted at the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) in July 2017 as scheduled.

He said the developers were currently preparing for construction and the project is expected to create 900 jobs during construction and 300 once operational.

The CEO explained that DITEC, a citizen owned company that deals in designs, development, customization and ultimately manufacturing of mobile handsets is also in progress and expected to be operational by end of the year.

He said the company has been allocated a 2000 square metre factory shell by Botswana Development Corporation (BDC). He said the organisation is in the process of purchasing machinery.

Dr Mokubung further noted that another company owned by Batswana called Almaz which deals with the assembling of computers has completed the relocation of equipment to Selebi Phikwe in May 2017.

He said electrical installation at the factory was complete while office furniture and other equipment are on site.

“The warehouse has passed the occupation inspection and they are almost done with the plant set up,” he said adding that Almaz is currently receiving some components from their suppliers in preparation for the Selebi Phikwe line.

Regarding the citizen owned, Asante Company project that involves technology development and marketing covering a wide range of fields such as queue management systems, e-pay and e-security services as well as farm management systems including provision of both hardware and software solutions, Dr Mokubung said the investor signed a lease agreement with BDC in March 2017.

He explained the project is financed by CEDA adding that the company is expected to employ a total of 200 people once fully operational.

He said the partitioning of the warehouse was completed on August 14, 2017 and the plant machinery is expected in Selebi Phikwe by end of October 2017. He said operations are expected to start soon.

Dr Mokubung indicated that a wholly citizen owned company, Oxygen Gas PTY LTD due to setup an air separation plant is also taking shape. He said the project entails the capturing of atmospheric gases and processing them into industrial gases.

He said the company has proposed to produce 10615 tonnes of Oxygen, 3504 tonnes of Nitrogen and 876 tonnes of Nitrous oxide per annum.

SPEDU CEO explained that the P52 million project has the potential of creating 205 jobs in Selebi Phikwe.

He said SPEDU facilitated the allocation of land for the project in August 2016.

He said the final draft of the EIA is currently circulating in newspapers for public review.

He told the area legislator that recently Brite Star Aviation, which is a US based aircraft manufacturing company signed a Memorandum of Understanding with SPEDU and government agencies to setup an aircraft manufacturing plant and associated businesses in Selebi Phikwe.

He said the ‘investors are currently settling in Botswana and the process to setup the project is expected to start soon.

In response, Minister Molefhi acknowledged the progress made in setting up business projects aimed at creating jobs and resuscitating the socio-economic status of Selebi Phikwe and the region.

Regarding the P1.4 Billion Brite Star Aviation investment project, which entails the development of an aircraft manufacturing plant, aircraft service and maintenance plant, an aviation academy and the hotel where around 3000 jobs are expected to be created, Minister Molefhi explained that residents of Selebi Phikwe and Batswana in general should understand that the setting up of projects would not be completed overnight as people anticipated. BOPA