SPEDU funds Selebi Phikwe development plan

ONALENNA KELEBEILE
Staff Writer | Friday June 21, 2013 00:00

The amount is being part of the 10 percent from the Re-employment Account to address pertinent economic and institutional bottlenecks, which serve as barriers to economic diversification and development.This was said by the Agency's Projects Manager, Theodore Seemule during a consultative review of the development plan workshop on Wednesday. Seemule said the project for a feasibility study for the upgrading of Selebi-Phikwe Airport was approved last week and added that works will commence soon.'We rely on the support of the community of Selebi-Phikwe because the ultimate upgrading of the airport will be guided and influenced by your collective, participatory and collaborative efforts,' he said.

Other SPEDU projects in the offing include the development of two Local Economic Development (LED) strategies, an initiative to support the private sector in its formation of a lobby and collective bargaining forum, researches into new technologies for private sector investment uptake as well as the development of a SPEDU Regional Infrastructure Master Plan.  He said these initiatives will further enhance service delivery, accentuate the region's gross domestic product profile and generally create a conducive environment for investment and the one that befits a world class Special Economic Zone.

He added that the initiatives ultimately gear towards making Selebi-Phikwe and its region an investment destination.'Another reason was that SPEDU studies, especially the tourism studies made far reaching recommendations which had direct impact and implications on the overall development of the town,' he added.He highlighted that the review of the development plan did not happen against a static and inflexible environment but the environment with both challenges and opportunities dictated and influenced the processes.He cited that SPEDU and BCL were not only developing their Regional Economic Development Strategy and Polaris 11 strategies but were also aligning them for synergistic benefit.

Seemule also indicated that council and SPEDU are involved in a dialogue for the development of a collaborative Local Economic Development (LED) strategy.  He further said the town and region were grappling with lack of a private sector collective bargaining and lobby forum and encroachment of communal land onto the shores of the township boundary. 'At national level, the Special Economic Zones Policy was entrenching itself deep into the fabric of our national planning landscape. These developments play a role in what we will ultimately become,' he added.He said the review of the Selebi-Phikwe Development Plan consultancy remains one of SPEDU's true success stories as the project was delivered within the constraints of time, scope and cost, which he said is a rare phenomenon in the country.