08 Mar 2018

Parliament has approved the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) budget proposal for the 2018/19 financial year amounting to P1 154 696 700, which is an increase of four per cent from the current financial year.

The budget, presented by MITI minister, Mr Vincent Seretse on March 7, comprised P1 046 226 700 in recurrent expenditure as well as P108 470 000 in development expenditure.

Mr Seretse pointed out that the ministry headquarters had been allocated the largest share of P933 096 670 from the recurrent budget.

He explained that P847 044 850 from the headquarters allocation would be paid as subventions to nine parastatal organisations under the ministry, which are Botswana Bureau of Standards (BOBS), Botswana Investment and

Trade Centre (BITC), Botswana Trade Commission (BOTC), Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA), Competition Authority, Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA), Gambling Authority, Local Enterprise Authority (LEA), and SPEDU.

He said CEDA would get the largest share of P298 814 780 followed by LEA with P156 802 770 and BITC with P106 830 560. Furthermore, he said BOBS would be given P90 368 220, CIPA P55 498 160, SPEDU P47 855 350 and the Gambling Authority P41 830 440.

Mr Seretse said the remaining parastatal organisations being the Competition Authority and BOTC would get P29 252 260 and P19 792 310 respectively. He added that the ministry’s departments would be given a total allocation of P199 181 850.

In terms of the development budget, the minister explained that the funds would cater for the ministry computerisation, consultancies, the Leather Industry Park, establishment of Competition and Consumer Authority as well as the Competition and Consumer Tribunal and Special Economic Zones.

Giving an overview of activities under the ministry in the current financial year, Mr Seretse said they had facilitated 617 business start-ups against a target of 680 between April and December 2017.

He added that foreign direct investment worth P791.56 million was attracted during the same period while a total of P2.013 billion worth of domestic investment and expansions was realised.

“My ministry has also facilitated the creation of 4 689 jobs against a target of 6 525 during the same period. I also wish to highlight that there has been a slight improvement in the global competitiveness ranking for Botswana, moving from position 64 in 2016/17 to 63 out of 137 countries,” said the minister.

He further said the ministry was in the process of reviewing the Trade Act of 2003 to facilitate the ease of doing business in Botswana by reducing the number of trade licenses. He also said CIPA was in the process of developing an online business registration system which would transform companies and business names registries from manual to electronic registries.

“Once completed, the system will enable customers to register companies and business names as well as being able to make payments from the comfort of their homes and offices.

The project is partly funded by the New Zealand government while the New Zealand Companies Office (NZCO) is providing technical expertise for the project,” he explained.

Regarding Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Mr Seretse said the Special Economic Zones Authority (SEZA) had continued to engage critical stakeholders for facilitation of the establishment of SEZs countrywide.

He pointed out that land had been identified and was being zoned as SEZs in Lobatse, SSKIA, Fairground, Palapye, Selebi Phikwe, Tuli Block, Francistown and Pandamatenga.

Concerning the Economic Diversification Drive (EDD) medium to long-term strategy, the minister said implementation of the three sub-sector strategies, which were leather, dairy and textile and clothing was ongoing while the development of the creative industries’ strategy had commenced.

“The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the establishment of the Leather Park in Lobatse has been approved and the master plan has also been completed.”

He said preliminary and detailed designs were currently being finalised. Meanwhile, efforts to build capacity in the short and long-term for the leather industry are continuing.

“The initiative is aimed at providing technical and practical skills essential in the development of the leather industry. Tendering for construction of the park is expected to be undertaken in June 2018,” he said.

The MP for Bobonong, Mr Shaw Kgathi supported the budget and urged the ministry to put more effort into attracting investors into the SPEDU region in order to resuscitate the Selebi Phikwe economy.

 “The SPEDU region has a lot of potential. You can talk about horticulture and tourism. There is much potential,” Mr Kgathi said.

He said the area possesses fertile soils which could lead to high production of horticulture products, adding that access to land should be made easier in the area so that people could utilise government programmes available in the horticulture sector.

He further asked for the completion of Plaatjan Bridge explaining that the bridge could facilitate a lot of trade.

Commenting, MP Slumber Tsogwane of Boteti West called for the fast-tracking of development of ICT infrastructure to rural areas to enable companies to do online business registration when it commences.

He said ICT as a driver of performance and operational effectiveness should be made available in rural areas.

He also expressed concern that the ease of doing business in Botswana was dropping, urging the ministry to address the issue.

Kanye South MP, Mr Abram Kesupile expressed concern about projects which take a long time to be implemented under the ministry.

He gave the example of the Leather Park, saying he suspected that it might not even materialise. “We will be waiting to see if there will be any progress in July,” he said.

He further complained that the creative industry sector was still neglected.

Boteti East MP, Mr Sethomo Lelatisitswe complained about delays in the processing of applications for trading licenses. He asked for the process to be improved.

Contributing to the debate, the MP for Francistown South, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi called for a more rigorous investment drive in Francistown.

He urged the ministry to consider the city as one of the growth areas in terms of investment.

Mr Mmolotsi said efforts being put to attract investment to Selebi Phikwe should be replicated in Francistown because it also suffered a mine closure.

He added that investors willing to set up businesses in Francistown should be assisted to access land more quickly.

While he also supported the budget, the MP for Ramotswa, Mr Samuel Rantuana urged government to curb corruption concerning the issuance of licenses, awarding of tenders, and approval of applications for enterprises funding.

He said corruption could destroy the economy if it was not tackled. Ends