Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
Staff Writer | Monday November 9, 2015 12:04
In his Independence Day message Khama promised to elaborate on this programme in his State of the Nation Address.
Some 1,200 construction projects across the various districts are expected to create jobs for small and medium sized citizen construction companies as they build ablution blocks, clinics, teachers’ and nurses quarters, classrooms among others.
Khama’s government has been working on the accelerated job creation, also known as the stimulus programme, over the past year. Job creation was among the chief pledges of Khama’s government ahead of the 2014 elections that returned his government to power.Tied to the job creation commitment is the target 20,000 initiative of re-skilling the unemployed youth to enable them to feed into the accelerated job creation programme and other opportunities.
As part of the job creation acceleration, Khama is also expected to announce his government’s special economic zones projects. Eight of these special economic zones have been identified and they include Selebi-Phikwe’s Polaris II, Palapye’s integrated coal projects, Kasane/Kazungula’s redevelopment project that entails construction of the Kazungula bridge and upgrading of Kasane as the No.1 transport and tourism hub, Lobatse’s leather park and biogas, Pandamatenga’s integrated farming, and food processing, Francistown as logistics, and mining, high tech manufacturing in Block 8, among others.
Meanwhile Roy Sesana and his people have been roped in, in the development of the CKGR as part of the special economic zone, as government and Basarwa are in advanced talks to develop the CKGR as a tourism hub where Basarwa will benefit economically. Khama is also expected to announce water and energy interventions that include acceleration of NSCI and NSCII which are expected to be labour intensive projects.
The ICT sector is also expected to get a huge boost with government sourcing computers and ICT services from the local ICT enterprises.
A key aspect of the economic stimulus programme is the EDD, whereby companies benefiting from government jobs must also comply by buying locally to ensure that money circulates in Botswana, reaching other sectors of the economy.
Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi is also expected to be announced as the coordinator of the economic stimulus programme, with the National Strategy Office (NSO) acting as the secretariat.
The stimulus programme will also have various sub-committees made up of permanent secretaries, with the District Commissioners making up the committees at District level to oversee the roll out of the programme.