BITC urges Botash to value-add soda ash
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Wednesday September 21, 2016 16:20
Speaking at a full council meeting of Sowa Town recently, BITC market intelligence manager Tiroyaone Sirang said the country would derive both social and economic value from producing different goods from the soda ash.
Sirang said Sowa Town offers many potential investment opportunities that should be tapped on. “We can get maximum value from exporting various products from soda ash. We export raw soda ash to other countries, which in return boost their economies. Those countries would later export the soda ash they bought from Botswana into various finished goods,” he said. Sirang said through soda ash, Botash could be able to produce finished goods such as glass, soap and detergents, chemical and paper.
He said soda ash value added chain would make chromium-based products and sodium silicate, which is well known due to its wide commercial and industrial application.
He said soda ash could also be used in swimming pool care, potassium chloride and salt packaging. Sirang said local companies, which produce these products, import salt from China to manufacture them. He explained that the investment opportunities that can be brought by soda ash could be achieved by the introduction of manufacturing industries in the country. When responding to the BITC presentation, the deputy mayor of Sowa Town Council Otsile Machona applauded BITC for coming up with ideas that can benefit the town and Botswana as a whole.
“The investment opportunities suggested by BITC need not be emphasised. They would create the much needed jobs that the people of this country especially the youth need very much,” he said.
Machona asked if there are foreign investors who are ready to partner with Botash in order to unlock the various opportunities that can be maximised from soda ash. Councillor Botho Ntirang also said the manufacturing of various products from soda ash can attract investors to Sowa Town who would create jobs for the community.
On a related development, Ntirang said sports tourism could also attract more tourists to the area and he pleaded with the powers that be to seriously evaluate the issue.
When responding to some of the questions posed by councillors, Sirang said BITC carried out a research, which showed that investors were ready to partner with Botash.