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Areas of Potential Economic Growth(AllAfrica.com English Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Nov 08, 2006 (Mmegi/The Reporter/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) --The Business and Economic Advisory Council (BEAC) has recommended that the commercialisation and rebuilding of the cattle industry is critical and should be given priority to rescue the livestock sector from further decline. BEAC handed over its 72-page report to President Festus Mogae last month. The eight-member council comprised of Permanent Secretary in Ministry of Finance and Development Planning Serwalo Tumelo, Bank of Botswana Governor Linah Mohohlo and Ellias Dewah from the Botswana Chamber of Commerce Industry and Manpower among others. They recommended that Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) should be deregulated and commercialised and that steps must be taken to ensure that it fulfils its original mandate of serving the interests of cattle owners. BEAC recommended that flower growing is another sector that can be ventured into citing the success of the Glen Valley project, which they said should be expanded as a matter of urgency through government support. The council stated that Pandamatenga Farms can have a positive impact on the structure of agriculture and the economy in Botswana. "It would achieve not only a significant diversification of the economy by more or less doubling agriculture's contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP); it would also achieve meaningful geographical diversification by creating a platform for a high quality quasi industrial activity in a relatively poor rural area," the report said. The council added that Pandamatenga can produce enough quantity to make viable the creation of a regional air transport hub at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport. "Every effort must be made to ensure that this project is now taken from design stage to actual implementation in a determined and focused manner," BEAC advised. Another area that has been identified as a possible solution to Botswana's economic woes is the transport sector. "Positioning Botswana as an air, road and rail traffic as well as logistics support hub for Southern and Central Africa holds significant potential. Various projects such as the flower growing and the agro-industry project at Pandamatenga, could provide base loads for cargo airlines and for viable business platforms," BEAC said. It added that Botswana should adopt opening skies for any efforts to attract international passenger airlines to use Gaborone as an alternative regional platform to Johannesburg. Botswana coal and gas energy bases at Morupule and Mmamabula and methane gas in the Central District could also be a solution to economic diversification that seems to be eluding Botswana. BEAC recommended that more local artisans should be trained to work in the projects that are expected to generate P25 billion in Foreign Direct Investment and P8 billion in export revenue every year. It said that the country should take advantage of the expansion of Morupule Power Station to increase coal exports via South Africa. The tourism sector, which is doing well has been identified as another potential contributor to economic diversification. BEAC has recommended that Botswana should build a Regional Centre for Training in Tourism Sector that could compete with the best in the world. "To maintain these high standards and its 'competitive edge' the industry must have access to the best possible specialised staff, able to serve in the industry 's different areas of specialisation such as general hotel/lodge management, Public Relations and Marketing, research, conservation and wildlife, front desk, general hospitality activities, catering and culinary," BEAC said. It revealed that at the moment such skills are very low. "It is proposed that a regional training school be established, serving also other Southern African countries. Botswana's private operators in the tourist sector must play a leading role in both establishing such a training facility and its management," BEAC said. Copyright 2006 Mmegi/The Reporter. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). |