04 Nov 2020

The long awaited construction of a state of the art abattoir in Tsabong is expected to commence this month.

President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi is expected to do the ground breaking of the P161 million project this month.

Speaking during a stakeholders briefing in Tsabong on November 3, Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Resource, support services deputy permanent secretary, Mr Thabang Botshoma said the project was delayed due to various factors which needed to be ironed out to ensure that construction starts.

He said the tendering process was completed and the project was awarded last week and all due processes would be completed to ensure that construction starts this month.

The project which will be constructed on a three hectares piece of land is a design and build contract which means that majority of the work shall be done by IPS South Africa company, which had been awarded the project hence the need for all stakeholders involved to ensure that they accord the contractor all the support needed, he said.

Some of the key challenges that delayed the project over the years, he said, were change of project scope.

“Initially the project was a small stock abattoir then it was changed to become a multispecies abattoir which delayed construction for two years,” he said.

He said, the history of the project was long for the reason that when the project was about to start in the past, it collapsed due to changes in project scope, adding that there was litigation in the process as the initial contractor was halted for some time and then demanded to be paid for two years idle time.

The issues, he said, had been resolved and the new contractor would commence construction in due course. 

The multispecies abattoir, he said shall serve the southern region and the nation as a whole as it would be a state of the art abattoir equipped with international standards equipment.

He emphasised that it was critical for all stakeholders dealing with water and infrastructure to come on board to collectively work towards completion of the project.

He noted that the project was at pre-contract stage, adding that the ground work had been done as the project implementation unit is in place.

Construction of the Tsabong multispecies abattoir, he said shall support President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi’s small stock initiative.

He said the initiative was targeted at increasing small stock numbers and quality of small stock nationwide for the reason that the President had successfully secured international markets for small stock which required more numbers of small stock.

Thus, he said, it was critical for all Batswana to strive to produce the quality that was needed to ensure the success of the initiative hence boosting economy.
He emphasised that the construction of the Tsabong multispecies abattoir would ensure that exportation of produce becomes easier.

Quantity surveyor in the ministry, Mr Disang Mathiba said the project was on its last stage of pre-contract, where tender had been awarded and the contractor would be met to discuss where a project commissioning shall be conducted to discuss terms and conditions and the contractor would be met on Friday. ENDS