P4m poultry abattoir fails to take off
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday April 8, 2016 16:00
According to a source, officers from the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) informed them that the contractor engaged to build the abattoir was left with the finishing touches. The poultry abattoir was supposed to be opened by April or May 2015 but it failed.
“Our main worry as poultry farmers is that we do not have an abattoir where our chickens can be slaughtered. We have been told to raise five percent of what the government had spent and we have been ready to pay since 2013.
“The reason why we formed this cooperative was because we found out that poultry farmers from Palapye, Serowe and Tswapong were experiencing difficulties when they wanted to slaughter their chickens,” the source said.
Another source said the project was financed under the Animal Production on Livestock Management and Infrastructure Development (LIMID) 2, as a Turnkey project.
“The project started at end of 2012 and it was supposed to finish in 2014. In one meeting that we attended with MoA officials, we were told that the roofing was not done properly since it was not supposed to be low.
We agreed with the contractor to follow the specifications on the design of the abattoir,” the source said.
The source said it is not clear how much had been spent on the abattoir. The poultry farmers slaughter chickens at their own poultries, which do not have good hygiene.
The chairperson for SEPHA poultry marketing cooperative society, Gagolepe Nthebolan could not comment on the matter. Meanwhile the Minister of Agriculture, Patrick Ralotsia confirmed that the abattoir is not yet functional due to unfinished work.“Of course the abattoir is our project but we are not the ones supervising it.
Our ministry has been told that the contractor has failed to conform to certain specifications on the design of the abattoir.
The latest update is that the contractor has been asked to re-do the roofing and other things. It will be handed to us after proper work has been done on it. I don’t know when it will start operating,” said Ralotsia.
He said the abattoir had inconvenience the poultry farmers especially SEPHA society members because the ministry had agreement with them and they were the ones who proposed the abattoir under the LIMID 2, Turnkey project.
“We had targeted 2014 for opening of the abattoir and the ministry could already be recovering money it had spent on it. It is true SEPHA society members were asked to raise the five percent of what the ministry had spent but we cannot collect the money now since the abattoir is not operating.
I don’t know the amount that could have been spent now. I can’t give you additional information since I don’t have the file,” he said.