18 Feb 2014

Botswana Meat Commission tannery ceased to operate as a wetblue plant in 2006, says the Minister of Agriculture Mr Christiaan De Graaff in Parliament on February 17.

He said two main reasons that led to the closure of the plant were environmental concerns and frequent breakdown and blockage of the effluent pipeline from the tannery to the evaporation pond adding that the pipe was old and needed to be replaced.

On the environmental concerns, the minister said, Lobatse residential area nearby had grown to the extent that it was now surrounding the plant and the smell from the plant was increasingly becoming a concern to the residents.

He said in order to combat this, either a major refurbishment of the plant was required or the plant had to be relocated to a new site outside town. Minister De Graaff said the two issues required considerable capital which the commission could not afford especially at the prevailing market prices for wet blue hides thus making the project non-viable.

He said there were indeed some local companies which showed interest in buying the plant. The arrangement, he added, fell through because one of the requirements was that if the tannery was to remain in operation it would after some time need to be relocated to a suitable location outside of town.

Mr De Graaff said these companies felt that buying the tannery and then later on relocating would be too costly for them and the tannery at the time was contributing negatively towards the overall finances of BMC.

He said the tannery machinery is still there but dilapidated adding that some of the drums are being utilised for wet salting as the hides are now sold in wet salted form. The minister stated that the Phakalane plant belongs to Tannery Industries Botswana which is a private entity and as such he does not know what happens to its property.

Mr De Graaff said in consultation with the Ministry of Trade and Industry who are responsible for the leather park project they cannot confirm what government would spend on the project when it becomes a reality as the actual costs are not known.

He said the State of the Nation address has revealed that as part of the Economic Diversification Drive strategy, government would be processing a P225 million leather production facility in Lobatse where land has been allocated for a leather park.

He said P225 million is a budget figure from the studies done so far but all budget figures are subject to variation as more information becomes available in the project.

MP for Maun West, Mr Frank Ramsden had asked the minister when the tannery at BMC in Lobatse ceased operation and why.

He also asked whether any local companies or individuals wanted to buy and operate the tannery if so why they were not allowed to operate it, and whether the tannery contributed positively or negatively towards the overall finances of the BMC.

Mr Ramsden further asked the minister what happened to the machinery for the tannery and the Botswana leather industry at Phakalane respectively and if sold how much it made.

He wanted to know whether in the event of the leather park becoming a reality government would spend more money over and above what was stated in the State of the Nation address.  ENDS