15 Apr 2019

The Assistant Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Mr Moiseraele Goya, says the construction industry plays an important role in the country’s economy.

When giving a keynote address at a Millionaire Construction Contractor seminar organised by SND Painting and Decorations,  in Palapye on April 13, Mr Goya said the country was grappling with challenges such as unemployment.

Therefore, he said, government was collaborating with the private sector to address unemployment challenges, hence calling upon  youth construction companies to play a role in this initiative.

He said though construction projects on average took 12 to 24 months, they could assist in creating employment.
In order to achieve the objective, Mr Goya said government initiated Citizen Empowerment Strategy o and the Citizen Economic Policy to empower Batswana.  

He said the objective was to impart knowledge and skills, build capacity among Batswana especially the youth to have sustainable businesses and infuse entrepreneur skills to build a foundation for global competitiveness among businesses.

Mr Goya further stated  that government had introduced Special Economic Zones (SEZA) to produce goods and services that would satisfy the demand in the country and also for export.

He explained that the import bill went up to P42 billion, something which demonstrated that there were business opportunities in the country.

Furthermore, he said government was looking up to young entrepreneurs such as young construction contractors to take on this challenge.

However,  Mr Goya expressed concern at construction companies that failed to pay employees accordingly while some did not pursue their jobs according to construction specification.

For his part, organiser of the seminar Mr Shingane Dambe said the seminar was initiated to empower construction companies especially youth companies to know how to lead their businesses, develop them, be sustainable and be able to compete at the level of foreign companies.

He said the workshop was also held to impart knowledge and skills among young contractors from established construction companies which have been in the industry for years.

Miss Lorato Selemogwe from BURS called on entrepreneurs and construction companies to always submit their income tax, value added tax, annual returns among other tax returns to avoid any penalties.

She said they should  make submission on time and  explained that the role of BURS was to collect tax return to create wealth for the country and to utilize the funds on the country’s development agenda.

The seminar was attended mostly by young construction contractors from Palapye.

Also representatives of established construction companies such as TKM Engineering, Temo Construction Services, P I Construction Services also attended the seminar to give guidance and impart knowledge among young contractors regarding the construction industry. ENDS