Lifeline for Phikwe: 3,000 jobs, P1.4bn in projects
Mbongeni Mguni | Wednesday August 30, 2017 17:38
The project will be near the Selebi-Phikwe airport, and is expected to employ at least 3,000 workers. Officials close to the project say priority for employment will be given to former workers of doomed BCL Mine, who are still jobless, following the mine’s closure last October. More than 6,000 workers were retrenched.
The project involves the construction of an aviation manufacturing and assembly plant, safari tourism centre including airport hotel, restaurants, conference and recreation centre as well as a pilot academy and maintenance and service area.
The project will take up about 10 hectares of land near the existing Selebi-Phikwe airport and will be completed within five years.
The United States (US) firm, Brite Star, has a similar venture, established in March 2017 at its headquarters in Fredericksburg, Texas. The firm is made up of Hungarian and American aviation investors and engineers.
Yesterday’s MoU was signed between SPEDU, Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC), Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana (CAAB), Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST), Selebi-Phikwe Town Council, the Ngwato Land Board (NLB) and Brite Star.
At the signing, BITC acting CEO, Meshack Tshekedi said the project was borne out of an investment promotion trip to Europe earlier this year, during which the Hungarians, who were weighing expansion options, were convinced to consider Botswana.
The BITC team was armed with the special fiscal incentives announced in March for the SPEDU region, which include five percent corporate tax for the first five years and 10% corporate tax thereafter, as well as zero customs duty on imported raw materials.
“We went to Germany, Czech Republic and Hungary where we met with them,” Tshekedi said. “We confirmed that what they want in Selebi Phikwe is not a pipe-dream, but something that can be brought to fruition. Brite Star will change the face of Phikwe.
“It has been a tireless journey for us and this MoU is to make sure that the investors are appropriately facilitated across the various services that they may need.” SPEDU CEO, Mokubung Mokubung said the US firm had already secured orders for its products and wished to set up as quickly as possible.
“This is historic for the country and it is the first time Botswana will have a venture of this nature,” he said.
For his part, Brite Star president, Imre Katona said funding was being mobilised for the project, while designs would be finalised soon, with a view to getting the projects running as soon as possible. He said the investment pitch by BITC had come when Brite Star was considering an expansion to Kenya or Nigeria.
“I had been talking to partners in Kenya and Nigeria and was about to finalise with some of them, but suddenly BITC showed us the advantages of Botswana,” he said.
“I didn’t know much about Botswana before and they presented the advantages it had.
“It only took me five minutes to decide to come and visit the country.”
He continued: “In the next five years, we will have everything set up as we want.
“It will not be easy, but it will happen.
“Let’s go out and get the shovels and start working”. The Brite Star president revealed that a 10-member delegation from CAAB, SPEDU and the NLB is scheduled to travel to Texas to view the company’s facilities there.