Forum attracts investment proposals worth P365m
Chakalisa Dube | Thursday October 23, 2014 15:25
During a media briefing held this week, outgoing mayor James Kgalajwe hinted that positive strides had been made.
“I cannot divulge much detail because of confidentiality with investors but we have proposals from different sectors, among them those who are dealing with waste management and recycling. The value of proposals since the forum two months ago, is about P365 million,” he said.
Kgalajwe hastened to add that none of the proposals had been approved while some were being assessed. The mayor further revealed that council was currently finalising the structures of the company with the assistance of the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC).
The BITC recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to act as a technical advisor to the vision 2022 council.
In a follow-up interview, Kgalajwe said the Francistown Investment Company would be tasked with working with investors therefore the vision council could not approve proposals yet.
He added that the company, which would start operating by end of the year, would require P5 million to get off the ground.
The mayor also officially introduced the governing committee that would be tasked with driving the Vision 2022. Julius Bolokwe, who is Botswana National Productivity Centre (BNPC) Regional Manager-North, leads the main committee, which was appointed several weeks ago. The other committee members are Samuel Mpuchane who is employed by the World Group of Companies, entrepreneur Iqbal Ibrahim, businessman and property magnet Austin Mbakile, Nancy Maganu, Phillip Radithupa, entrepreneur Dudu Khupe, Palalani Tamajasi and Legal Advisor Motshegetsi Masoba.
The vision 2022 has also managed to set up an adjudication committee, which is comprised of various government services departments.
The team has been tasked with evaluating investment proposals from different companies before making recommendations to the vision council committee.