The Selebi-Phikwe Economic Diversification Unit (SPEDU) has warned Parliament that inadequate industrial infrastructure, high electricity costs and policy delays are slowing investment conversion in the region despite growing investor interest and a multi-billion pula industrial pipeline.
Appearing before Parliament’s Committee on Statutory Bodies and State Enterprises this week, SPEDU Acting Chief Executive Officer Othata Batsetswe said the institution had attracted industrial projects valued between P5.9 billion and P6.8 billion, but cautioned that structural bottlenecks continued to undermine implementation.
Batsetswe identified unserviced industrial land as the most significant obstacle facing the agency’s industrialisation agenda.
According to SPEDU, more than 92 percent of heavy industrial land under its control remains unserviced, limiting the organisation’s ability to convert investor commitments into operational projects.
Out of 103 plots within SPEDU’s industrial land portfolio, only eight have been fully developed, representing a development rate of approximately 7.8 percent.
“The biggest challenge remains infrastructure readiness,” Batsetswe told legislators during the presentation.
The agency was established after the collapse of the BCL copper-nickel mine in Selebi-Phikwe, which resulted in widespread job losses and economic decline in the region. SPEDU has since been tasked with driving economic diversification and attracting new industries to the area.
The agency was established after the collapse of the BCL copper-nickel mine in Selebi-Phikwe, which resulted in widespread job losses and economic decline in the region. SPEDU has since been tasked with driving economic diversification and attracting new industries to the area.
Batsetswe said investor appetite had increased significantly in recent years, with SPEDU facilitating more than 157 enterprises valued at P3.4 billion and supporting over 8,000 cumulative jobs.
However, he said several projects remained delayed because of infrastructure shortages, financing constraints and regulatory uncertainty.
Among the concerns raised was the delayed gazetting of the 30 percent Government Offtake Policy into a binding statutory instrument. Batsetswe said the delay had weakened investor confidence because manufacturers remained uncertain about guaranteed access to government procurement markets.
He also cited high electricity tariffs, particularly maximum demand charges imposed on emerging industries, as a major barrier to manufacturing competitiveness.
Additional constraints included delayed financing approvals, shortages of serviced industrial land and competition from imported goods.
Batsetswe said SPEDU continued to lobby for electricity tariff reforms, accelerated infrastructure servicing and stronger domestic market protection measures to support local industries.
Despite the challenges, the agency said it had expanded its manufacturing portfolio from 22 enterprises in the 2020/21 financial year to 60 active enterprises in 2025/26.
The enterprises operate across sectors including pharmaceuticals, food processing, chemicals, plastics, electrical components and metal fabrication.
Batsetswe also highlighted what he described as SPEDU’s largest foreign direct investment transaction to date — a chemicals manufacturing project valued at approximately US$45 million.
He said the organisation was positioning the Selebi-Phikwe region as a future hub for electric mobility, battery value chains, green manufacturing and metallurgical beneficiation, with projected capital frameworks exceeding P3.1 billion.
SPEDU has also submitted Botswana’s first application to the United Nations Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, seeking approximately US$17 million for climate resilience and industrial decarbonisation initiatives.
Alongside its industrialisation efforts, the institution outlined governance reforms aimed at improving operational credibility and investor confidence.
Batsetswe said SPEDU had introduced enterprise risk management systems, anti-corruption frameworks, whistleblowing mechanisms and digital procurement controls following years of governance instability and audit backlogs.
He told Parliament that all outstanding audit findings were classified as medium-risk, with no high-risk governance failures identified.
Financially, SPEDU reported receiving government subventions totalling approximately P141.5 million over four years while increasing its accumulated reserves from about P327,844 to more than P7.1 million by the 2025 financial year.
Batsetswe said the agency’s long-term strategy aimed to transform Selebi-Phikwe into a major industrial and export-oriented manufacturing centre integrated into African Continental Free Trade Area supply chains.
He said achieving those ambitions would depend heavily on resolving infrastructure and policy constraints currently slowing industrial expansion.
