The bill, which mandates the Botswana government to raise a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for facilitation and financing the project, received overwhelming support in the House.Finance and Development Planning Minister Kenneth Matambo said Botswana and Zambia have agreed to participate in the implementation of the project by way of a sponsors' agreement, which has been drawn up and agreed upon. The minister then listed various financiers that have shown interest in financing the construction phase of the project.
"The African Development Bank (Afdb), European Investment Bank (EIB), Chinese Exim Bank and the JICA are units that have shown interest. However, we have opted for assistance from JICA because the terms of their loan were more favourable than others," Matambo said.He said that JICA also pledged to provide technical assistance worth US$ 6 million to Botswana, which will cover capacity building in the form of project management and operations of the one stop border post in addition to the loan.
