'Tinseltown' To Be Opened Next Month

By Business Reporter | Monday February 11, 2008 00:00

 

The building, which DTC Botswana's Managing Director Brian McDonald says is in a class of its own 'in the world', was funded by De Beers to the tune of P471 million. 'It (DTC Botswana) will help diversify the economy and also help sightholders fulfil their dream of beneficiation,' Tim Dabson, DTC London Executive Director responsible for beneficiation said at a press conference in Gaborone last Friday. 'Behind the headline job creation of 3 000, beneficiation will come with other services like transport, security and banking.'  McDonald told the same press conference that the 'world class' facility will sort and value 30 million carats of diamonds per year, making it the largest such plant in the world. The building houses 39 diamond-sorting machines valued at P69 million. The machines have the capacity to process 45 million carats of diamonds and accommodate 600 workers.

Coming only three weeks before the swearing-in of Vice President Ian Khama as President, observers say the commissioning of DTC Botswana - with its glitter and 3 000 jobs in the offing - will be a good omen for the new president.

Representatives of 16 locally registered diamond cutting and polishing companies, known as sightholders in De Beers' nomenclature, will be present to witness the opening of Botswana's mini 'tinseltown'.

It is expected that by 2010, over $550 million (about P3.6 billion) worth of rough diamonds will be sold annually to the Botswana-based manufacturers.

These sightholders, which are spread around the country, are Ascot Diamonds, Dalumi Botswana, DDA of Botswana, Diamond Manufacturing Botswana, Eurostar Botswana, H and A Cutting Works Botswana, Lazare Kaplan Botswana, Leo Schachter Botswana, Moti Ganz Botswana, Pluczenik Diamond Co., Rand Precision Cut Diamonds, Safdico Botswana, Suashish Diamonds Botswana, Teemane Manufacturing Co., Yerushalmi Brothers Diamonds Botswana and Zebra Diamonds. These companies, which were previously based in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, will buy rough diamonds from DTC Botswana for processing into finished products at their factories.

Asked if the sightholders will move to the envisaged Diamond Park near the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport, McDonald said that would be ideal for security. 'It would be nice if they operated in the same area,' McDonald suggested. Most of the manufacturers operate in various industrial estates in Gaborone and in principal rural district towns.

But what will happen to Orapa House when all work done there is transferred to DTC Botswana at Diamond Park?

'We envisage something of a heritage with an educational component,' Dadson said. 'People will learn about the diamond industry beginning with how diamonds are extracted from the ground.'

Orapa House could also house DTC International, which is expected to relocate some of its activities to Botswana by 2009.