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How Galvanising Botswana seeks to spark a steel revolution

Burning ambition: Galvanising Botswana is steaming ahead with its plans FILE PIC
Burning ambition: Galvanising Botswana is steaming ahead with its plans FILE PIC

Botswana is preparing to take a step further down the steel value chain with a new hot-dip galvanising plant expected to begin operations in the first quarter of next year, opening possibilities for local manufacturers who have long depended on South African facilities to complete their products. TIMOTHY LEWANIKA chats with one of the pioneering local entrepreneurs, Steven Steven, who is one of the directors of Galvanising Botswana

The project, being developed in Mmamashia by Galvanising Botswana, will have the capacity to process about 100,000 tonnes of steel annually, or roughly 220 tonnes a day. The facility is expected to become the country’s first major downstream steel-processing plant, targeting industries ranging from mining and construction to agriculture, water infrastructure, and renewable energy.

Its arrival comes against a backdrop of heavy dependence on imported steel and steel products. Botswana imported iron and steel worth about $114.9 million in 2023, whilst articles of iron and steel accounted for a further $130.1 million, representing a combined import bill of more than P3 billion. Much of that market consists not only of raw materials but finished or semi-finished products that could potentially be fabricated and processed closer to home.

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