02 Sep 2020

SPEDU chief executive officer Dr Mokubung Mokubung is upbeat that the parastatal organisation is endowed with competent human resource to captain its flight to its desired destination.

Speaking during a Bobirwa Sub-Council meeting recently, Dr Mokubung brought councillors up to pace with SPEDU mandate, success stories and challenges the parastatal faced in their efforts to facilitate, coordinate and implement economic diversification projects in the region.

The economic diversification projects and activities are in the sectors of agribusiness, manufacturing, tourism and strategic infrastructure development with a goal to create sustainable employment, advance the quality of life and enhance socio-economics in the SPEDU region by 2035.

Throughout his narration of the SPEDU journey, the CEO said had his entity been adequately funded, results of their professional hard work could be shining the brightest that even the doubting Thomases would be converted.

However, Dr Mokubung prides SPEDU with a great, desirable reputation of facilitating, coordinating and implementing projects within schedule and budget.

He boasts shrewd project managers.
Going forward, he said SPEDU would profile tourism opportunities ‘with the objective of finding local investors and creating job opportunities in villages’.

This profiling, Dr Mokubung said, would be done in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism as well as Botswana Tourism Organisation.

In addition to profiling tourism opportunities, SPEDU will advertise land around Thune Dam to local investors for water-based tourism, he said.

Owing to the challenges birthed by COVID-19, the regional entity intends to mobilise and reach out to small, medium and micro enterprises in the region to help regenerate and develop the economy of the region.

“The growth and advancement of such enterprises is a vital catalyst in achieving economic growth and development of the region,” reads part of the CEO’s presentation.

Aggressive implementation of the SPEDU investment incentives is a fast way of revitalising the SPEDU region, Dr Mokubung said, adding that it should be mandatory that all tenders state 30 per cent reservation for SPEDU companies.

The parastatal organisation has opened offices in Bobonong and Maunatlala to take services closer to the people.

The SPEDU region covers Tswapong North, Mmadinare and Bobonong constituencies.

This translates to a total of 52 villages with a population of 203 000, with Selebi Phikwe having a population of 49 000.

The opening of the offices, it is said, will ensure that SPEDU worked closely with stakeholders such as Ngwato Land Board, Bobonong Sub-district Council and Central District Council ‘to identify, initiate and implement economic development projects.’

Other future economic advancement overtures include development of infrastructure at Tuli Block and Sherwood area through Special Economic Zones.

According to SPEDU CEO, ‘the area has the potential to feed the nation with horticulture produce’.

The SPEDU chief further informed councillors that the entity was implementing servicing of industrial land in Selebi Phikwe.

The project is a collaboration of the Ministry of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services, Water Utilities Corporation, Selebi Phikwe Town Council, Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security and BOFINET.

“Timely implementation of this project has a potential to deliver over 3 500 jobs from 28 companies already awaiting the completion of this project for them to set-up,” report from the CEO reads.

The CEO also established that there was servicing of land aimed at providing an enabling environment for the businesses to start operations and therefore an attractive marketing tool for investors to set up in the SPEDU region.

Dr Mokubung yet again informed the council that SPEDU was currently facilitating high impact projects in manufacturing and agribusiness, with a potential to create 2 625 jobs.

The jobs will be created by, among others, Pula Dynes, a wholly owned citizen pharmaceutical company.  The company stands to create 300 permanent jobs when fully operational, with 600 jobs created during construction.

Also, Selebi Phikwe Citrus Fruit Project, a foreign owned company expected to establish a citrus fruit plantation, is expected to employ 1 700 people with a projected investment of P500 million.  

The project is scheduled to commence construction next month.

In an endeavour to lure companies to set up, invest and ultimately create employment in the SPEDU region, Dr Mokubung informed the civic leaders that the entity offered investment incentives a five per cent corporate tax for five years and then 10 per cent thereafter.

Furthermore, companies are offered zero customs duty on imported raw materials.

In the near past, SPEDU implemented construction of a 155-metre long Platjan Bridge over Limpopo River between Botswana and South Africa, which commenced in January 2018 and was completed in October 2019.

Following passing of inspection by both countries, the reported P104-million bridge was opened for use in December 2019.

“To date there are 15 employees at the bridge,” said Dr Mokubung

Another project that Dr Mokubung prides his entity for delivering in time and within budget is the refurbishment of Selebi Phikwe Airport that was completed in 2017 ‘to enable usage of flight transport mainly by investors, tourists and traders for economic revitalisation’.

Part of the refurbishment was a 1.8km runway.   Some of the projects that SPEDU facilitated include, but are not limited to,  Kwenantle Farmers at Talana Farms, Better Service Group (a paper and stationery company) and a 52km farms electrification along Motloutse River.

However, the SPEDU CEO decried shortage of serviced land, inadequate factory shells, untarred Lekkerpot-Platjan road and COVID-19 pandemic, among others. Ends