H1 NDP 11 report card
By Rearabilwe Ramaphane
For the first half of the National Development Plan (NDP) 11, the Ministry of Investment Trade and Industry (MITI) has added P15 billion into the economy. This was revealed by Minister Peggy Serame in Parliament when delivering the Ministry's NDP11 midterm review budget estimates on Monday.
She said during the past 2 and half financial years of the first half of NDP11 the Ministry and its investment promotion agencies and different institutions facilitated a total of P6.321 billion Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) across various economic sectors and industries. On the Domestic investment front Minster Serame told parliament that a whooping P9.55 billion was unearthed.
She said Botswana Development Corporation(BDC), the country's wholly government owned investment outfit has during the first half of NDP 11 invested P913 million into new and existing businesses across various economic sectors in Botswana , in turn creating 1200 new jobs.
In Selibe Phikwe the Ministry's regional parastatal, SPEDU has facilitated setting up of 45 companies in the region with a view to resuscitate the economy of the town and entire eastern bloc which was adversely impacted by the closure of BCL Mine in 2016.
The Minister explained that the companies have started enjoying the tax incentives packages designed designated for SPEDU as a way of attracting investor s to the region. To date 19 companies are benefiting from income tax incentives, while 21 have been awarded with 30 % government off take certificates. A total of 2047 jobs have been created in the SPEDU region, against a 3 year target of 6856.
Minister Serame shared that SPEDU has encountered challenges with shortage of serviced land to avail to investors as well as shortage of bespoke factory shells; she however noted that works are underway to facilitate servicing of land which will avail over 1900 hectares of land by 2023.
For the remaining part of NDP 11 Minister Serame revealed that the ministry through Citizen Entrepreneurship development Agency (CEDA) will invest P450 million on 856 citizen companies creating 2400 jobs. She said this will be enabled by the new CEDA revised guidelines as well as the new citizen economic empowerment law expected to be approved by parliament during the current financial year.
In the current financial year spilling over to the next, Botswana Development Corporation will invest P800 million into projects that will retain jobs and promote economic diversification. "In the next 12 months BDC will invest P800 million into projects such as large scale equipment manufacturing, automotive components manufacturing and food processing," the Minister revealed.
She said these investments will be aimed at producing equipments and materials for development projects in key sectors such as water and energy. In addition Minister Serame told parliament that the state owned Investment Company will during the remaining part of NDP 11, mobilize a total of P3 billion for domestic investment projects across different economic sectors and industries to accelerate economic diversification and creation of much needed jobs.
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