SEZA board tours Pandamatenga Special Economic Zone

TheVoiceBW
Panda silos

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Special Economic Zones Authority (SEZA), Thapelo Tsheole recently led the Authority’s Board of Directors on a tour of key projects at the Pandamatenga Special Economic Zone (SEZA).

The delegation that included the SEZA Senior Management led by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lonely Mogara visited a number of projects, among them a potato farm, SEZA’s 107hectares agro-processing zone, and the construction site of 12 steel grain silos at the Pandamatenga SEZ.

SEZA board tours panda silos
SEZA CEO: Lonely Mogara

Updating the Board at the construction site, Mogara said the additional 12 modern steel grain silos will have an overall storage capacity of 60,000 metric tonnes.

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“These steel grain silos are meant to facilitate increased agro-production by augmenting the capacity of the existing 30, 000 metric tonnes. We expect to complete the project by August 2021,” he said.

For his part, Project Manager, Walter Kgabung revealed that the 12 steel grain silos are being built at the same site where the old silos are located.

The project will cost about P126m.

“The civil and structural work is complete, while electrical and mechanical installations are at 60 percent completion,” he said.

While he maintained that the project was progressing smoothly, Kgabung revealed that they experienced minor delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Further delays were caused by the unavailability of materials in Kasane, which forced the contractor to source from Gaborone and Francistown.

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For her part, Felicia Mophuthegi – General Manager at Ezra & Ezra construction thanked SEZA for giving citizen-owned companies opportunities to contribute to Botswana’s economic transformation.

“We look forward to working with the Pandamatenga community and have already invited them to start applying for vacant posts. We are committed to delivering the project on time and within budget,” she said.

SEZA is transforming Pandamatenga into an Agropolis SEZ that combines modern farming with top-notch industrial, residential, commercial, and recreational facilities.

Mogara further revealed that the Pandamatenga SEZ will benefit from the recently completed Kazungula Bridge and the envisaged Mosetse–Kazungula, and Mmamabula–Lephalale railway lines.

“The Pandamatenga SEZ will create employment and boost food production, which will reduce Botswana’s high food import bill,” he said.

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