22 Nov 2018

Plans are underway to launch a charcoal manufacturing project courtesy of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

In an interview, UNDP official, Mr Innocent Magole confirmed that the charcoal production had resumed this month and plans were underway to launch the project in Maun on December 11.

He said prior to the launch, they would arrange a media tour to the production site on December 10, for other stakeholders to appreciate the whole manufacturing process.

He said if the initiative was to become successful, it would take Sehithwa’s Lake Ngami Conservation Trust and communities to great heights.

Already, the trust is at an advanced stage with the project as factors such as barcodes, packaging and branding were taken care of.

Lake Ngami Conservation Trust  manager, Mr Galefele Maokeng explained that they had ventured into the wood processing project because they had realised that there was a high demand of charcoal and a lot of unused acacia trees in the lake.

Meawhile, the charcoal manufacturing project resumed after the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) proposed that an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) be developed to pave way for manufacturing.

This followed efforts by the trust management to request a waiver from the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism after they had been advised to stop production and conduct Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) before they could continue with the project.

The project, which was up and running was suspended in June as the trust was financially crippled to conduct the EIA exercise until DEA came to their rescue with a suggestion of EMP.

By then, the trust was reported to have already manufactured products, which were ready to hit the market but their efforts were in vain.

The trust also had already secured a lucrative market in Namibia and locally.

UNDP had also promised to construct a mini charcoal production factory for the trust following the training of 20 beneficiaries, who underwent training in Namibia courtesy of UNDP. ENDS