24 Jun 2025

The state-of-the-art, multi million pula Pioneer Border Gate facility has been completed at the tune of P588 million.

The commercial border, which is situated between South Africa and Botswana near Lobatse, serves as one of the important gate ways to commerce, tourism, and boosts intra-regional trade and regional integration due to its strategic positioning along the Trans Kalahari economic corridor, said Botswana Unified Services (BURS) commissioner general Ms Jeanette Makgolo when addressing the media during a tour of the project yesterday.

Ms Makgolo said Pioneer Gate was chosen as one of the key priority projects in the BURS transformation agenda for the reason that on average, the commercial border facilitated imports valued at P25 billion and exports valued at P1 billion per annum while transit goods handled at the border were valued at P30 billion, and therefore one of the commercial borders in the country.

Additionally, Ms Makgolo said the border was one of the busiest as it handled 540 000 travellers per annum, as such BURS found it pertinent to undertake the Pioneer Gate reconstruction project to efficiently facilitate seamless flow of legitimate trade.

This development, she noted, was a successful milestone of the BURS transformation journey, and one of the initiatives aimed at enhancing trade facilitation to streamline imports and exports thereby stimulating the economy through timely facilitation of raw materials and machinery thereby improving efficiencies.

She highlighted that the facility would accommodate all border agencies playing a critical role in facilitating coordinated border management such as customs, immigration, BURS and Law enforcement agencies and was designed with amenities necessary for instigating a One-Stop-Border-Post.

“Looking into the future, our new facility supports prospects of implementing a One-Stop-Border-Post, a model which Botswana aims to operationalise across all our commercial borders,” she said.

BURS general manager shared services, Mr Kenny Labane said the project, which was conceptualised in 2010 and budgeted for P475 million, was formally started in 2019 as they had to first secure land and increase the space in which the border was to accommodate other services and amenities. 

“It took a while and eventually the project took off in 2019 and completed in May 2025 at a cost of P588 million,” he said.

He revealed that during the construction phase challenges were encountered as some contractors did not perform accordingly leading to a termination of their contracts, which resulted in litigation, which in turn took long to resolve and therefore caused project delay. Additionally, he said the project was further delayed by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic due to movement restrictions.

The project, he said, was developed in two phases, the first phase included construction of 198 staff housing units, which included 22 town houses, eight high cost houses, and 160 apartments, which were completed in February 2022. The second phase included demolition of the old border office and staff housing, construction of office building, dog kennels, inspection checkpoints, scanner halls, a preschool, a gym and football pitch amongst others.

For her part, acting Commissioner for Operations, Ms Motsisi Mongati said BURS was established to perform tax assessment and collection functions on behalf of the government, as such the media tour of Pioneer Border Gate’s new facilities was an occasion to reaffirm BURS commitment to carry out its functions to serve the taxpayer sufficiently through the upgraded border post.

She underscored that Pioneer was one of the three commercial borders between Botswana and South Africa on the southern part of Botswana therefore it was befitting to upgrade infrastructure to enhance border security, facilitate trade and maximise revenue collection and is of great significance for strengthening connectivity between the two countries and enhancing coordinated development of the inter-regional economy. ENDS