Landowners Urged To Lease Plots To Investors

Lindiwe Mozola | Monday February 15, 2016 15:17

Speaking during BITC local outreach workshop held in Palapye recently, BITC property & facilities services manager Thabo Olyn, noted that land is a very rare commodity that should be protected by all and can be used to attract investors for economic diversification.

He said as BITC they do encourage people that have land to register with them freely so that they could assist in leasing the land to developers and investors, an investment that could run for life. “One of our major mandate as BITC is to travel across the globe looking for investors that can boost our economy, however the major challenge that we have with investors is land,” he said.

Olyn further said some of the investors end up taking their business elsewhere due to shortage of land.  “We only have space available in Gaborone but we hope in the near future to have space allocated to us in Palapye.

“We are also very pleased with the recent directive by the Minster of Lands and Housing, Prince Maele, that every time there is land allocation a piece of land be reserved for BITC.” he said.

Furthermore, he encouraged the business community to partner with them and make BITC their middlemen to improve ways of doing business as well as bringing in investors. On their part, the business community decried delays in land allocation, labour issues, business licensing as well as business laws and regulations that put strains on their operations as well as driving away potential investors.

The managing director of Saleskhan Holdings, Kemoagetse Pono, said there is currently too much licensing in Botswana. Every business activity has to be licensed, limiting the space for businesses to operate.

 “Legislation should specify what is unlawful and make every other activity legal, creating more opportunities and room for investors,” he said.  Pono further said the Trade Act and the associated licensing procedures fell far short of international best practices.

“Trade licensing imposes unnecessary costs and risks on the private sector and is a major barrier to the emergence of new business activities and the graduation of informal sector business to the formal sector.  “Botswana laws are very difficult to handle; we have talked to so many investors who have money to invest here however due to the unbearable business laws here, they took their businesses across the borders,” he said. Pinne Maruatona of Task Manufacturers decried the land shortages saying that it takes a long time for the Land Board to allocate commercial plots.

She said it takes more than five years to be allocated business land and without land there is no how any business can operate.

“With so much delay there is no way investors can invest in our country because time is money,” she said.