LEATHER PARK TO PRODUCE FIRST LINE IN DECEMBER

First products of processed leather from the Lobatse Leather Industry Park are expected to be produced by December 2024. Presenting the budget proposal for the Ministry, Assistant Minister of Entrepreneurship, Molebatsi Molebatsi said they expect the first phase of the leather park project to be completed by the end of the third quarter of financial year 2024/2025. The Ministry has allocated P63 million for development of the leather park. He said the completion of phase 1 will not only facilitate local value addition to raw materials but will enable the processing of leather to what is called wet blue stage. Wet

Blue is moist chrome-tanned leather which is neither dried, dyed nor finished. “We expect the first wet blue processed leather to come out of the facility by December 2024.”

Implementation of Leather Industry Park project started in 2014 but has been delayed due to technical and financial constraints. Currently, leather is being exported in the raw (wet salted) but through the implementation of the project hides will be processed into finished leather and stimulate the leather industry in the country. This will be followed by the development of the secondary facility to transition production from tannage to post-tannage to the finished leather stage. Molebatsi said the final stage is wholly intended for entrepreneurs in the private sector, particularly SMMEs. “In pursuit of greater efficiencies within public sector delivery, the final stage work will be done jointly between Local Enterprise Authority, Citizen Entrepreneural Development Agency (CEDA), National Development Bank (NDB) and the commercial banks.”

The development and other financiers are expected to provide capacity building and financial support to SMMEs through their mainline portfolios. Molebatsi emphasised that in order to leverage off existing latent capacity and to facilitate a quick turnaround, the project has been restructured by speeding up delivery of the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) tannery. The initiative includes the development of the effluent plant infrastructure, which is planned to manage both solid liquid waste generated from the plant.