The groundbreaking of the highly anticipated New Botswana City underscores Botswana’s intent to compete and participate meaningfully in the evolving global economy.
This was said by the Minister of Minister of Trade and Entrepreneurship, Mr Tiroeaone Ntsima during the project ground breaking ceremony in Gaborone on Friday.
Mr Ntsima indicated that government was fully committed to advance economic diversifica-tion, industrialisation, export development, citizen economic empowerment and private sector growth.
“We recognise that sustainable economic growth requires strategic partnerships, investor confidence, infrastructure readiness and an enabling environment that allows enterprises to flourish,” he said.
Mr Ntsima thus noted that the New Botswana City was therefore a statement that Botswana was open for business and ready to compete.
He further highlighted that Botswana Development Cooperation continued to play a pivotal role as government’s main investment arm through driving major investments that contributed meaningfully to national developments, industrial growth and economic resilience.
To this end, he said the New Botswana City project came at an important point in the national journey for economic transformation and was in alignment with the national vision 2036 and Economic Transformation Programme.
“Across the world, countries that have successfully transformed their economy have done so by deliberately investing in trade enabling infrastructure, enterprise ecosystem logistic plat-forms and globally competitive commercial hubs,” he said.
He said the New Botswana City represented far more than physical infrastructure as it was a strategic economic platform designed to unlock economic growth and facilitate trade as well as attract direct foreign investment and strength Botswana's role within the regional and global value chain.
Similarly, BDC board chairperson, Mr Rizwan Desai, hailed the groundbreaking of New Botswana City as statement of confidence in the country’s future and a demonstration of what was possible when vision, partnership and commitment came together in pursuit of a common purpose.
He said the New Botswana City represented the next chapter in the country’s transformational journey, ‘one that seeks to position Botswana more prominently within regional and global trade, investment and enterprise networks.
“What makes this project particularly significant is not only its scale, but its potential impact. Its success will ultimately be measured by the opportunities it creates, the investment it attracts, and the value it delivers to Batswana for generations to come,” he said.
He noted that the onus was on all stakeholders to translate vision into delivery, partnership into progress and ambition into tangible economic outcomes. ENDS