Africa-Press – Botswana. Work is ongoing to get the Lobatse Special Economic Zone (Lobatse SEZ), also known as the Meat and Leather City operational.
Special Economic Zone Authority (SEZA), Director for Investment Attraction, Dr Fidelity Monthe, said they have carried out master planning and were now in the process of doing detailed engineering designs.
Dr Monthe said: “We have master planned the 359 hectares area including a detailed urban design and the cadastral survey.
The next step is to open 100 hectares. On that 100 hectares, we will do detailed engineering designs.
“We hope to do these this coming financial year, funds permitting. That is how far we are in terms of developing the SEZ.”
Making a presentation about the Lobatse SEZ during a business meeting organized by Lobatse Town Council on Tuesday, Dr Monthe said they were developing the Lobatse SEZ while at the same time looking for investors to set up in the area.
She said they engaged several companies with to invest in the area. Some of the companies submitted their business proposals, and the SEZA board was in the process of licensing them so that they could start operating in the area.
Dr Monthe added that they were working with a developer to help in the development of the Lobatse SEZ.
She added: “They (developers) are currently doing their feasibility study. Based on their feasibility study they will guide us on the requirements that would be needed to develop Lobatse SEZ.
“We are also working with an investor in the leather industry. This investor is currently based in South Africa. They are working on their proposal. Hopefully, they will submit their proposal and we will see whether it meets our requirements.”
She said they were in discussions with an investor operating in the automotive industry. The investor was in the business of automotive components. She said they were also in discussions with another investor in the poultry processing business.
“Hopefully we will get to an agreement for them to set up in Lobatse and create the much needed jobs,” she said. “We are targeting both local and international investors. We are going to engage more companies that deal with the meat and leather industry.”
Dr Monthe said they were looking for local companies or international investors, which were 100 per cent export oriented, or those which could assist the government in terms of import substitution. She pointed out that SEZs function through the 80-20 rule, where 80 per cent of investors were from the anchor industries while 20 per cent were from supporting industries. She said for international companies to be licensed by SEZA, they should be able to invest a minimum of P200 million. The investment requirement for local companies was P50 million.
A foreign investor in the SEZ should be able to empower Batswana through joint ventures, clusters and backward and forward linkages.
“We are also looking for investors that can create sustainable jobs for Batswana. If the company meets our selection criteria, we offer it our physical and non-physical incentives.
In terms of the physical incentives, we offer five per cent corporate tax for the first 10 years and 10 per cent thereafter,” she said. These were the best incentives so far in the country adding that they also offer duty-free imports on specialist plants and machinery.
There is no transfer duty within the Special Economic Zone.
We zero rate the VAT on raw materials for use in the manufacturing, she said.
She further said they fast-tracked land allocation within the SEZ and offered long-term renewable leases that could go up to 99 years.
“In terms of the non-physical incentives, we assist investors to obtain visas, work and resident permits, we identify and introduce (link) investors to services suppliers. We also assist in terms of environmental impact assessment,” she added.
In his welcome remarks, Lobatse Town Clerk, Mr Lentswe Lesenyegile, pointed out that the economy of Lobatse was stagnant, but they were, however, currently implementing the Lobatse Economic Development (LED) Strategy which started in 2019 to address the situation. He said the strategy aimed to attract investors to grow the economy of Lobatse and create job opportunities.
“Alongside the LED Strategy, Lobatse was identified as one of the Special Economic Zones specializing in meat and leather park. So we are here to share ideas and come up with local strategies that will help us as Lobatse town to implement plans for the meat and leather industry, and other initiatives that would help us to drive the industries that are associated with this,” he said.
Local Economic Development (LED) Commissioner, Cllr Tshwanelo Yane, said the town needed investors to come on board and assist in developing its economy.
For More News And Analysis About Botswana Follow Africa-Press
