He revealed the figures when giving an update on the status of the town last week during a Full Council meeting. The sitting is the last edition of the Selebi-Phikwe Town Council (SPTC) Full Council meeting before the general election, later this year. SPEDU was established in 2012, prompted by the need to diversify the Selebi-Phikwe economy from mining and mining operations into other sectors that can sustain the economy of the town with sustainable employment and industries. Modimana also said the total number of companies or firms that SPEDU is currently facilitating has reached 154. He explained that the companies are at different stages of implementation. According to him, 153 companies are in the private sector while one is government funded. He added that of the 153 companies in the private sector, 78 are fully operational.
“Categories of these companies are; three in the tourism sector, one in infrastructure, and 18 in agribusiness while 56 are in the manufacturing sector. The cumulative investment for these projects is P4.2 billion while the cumulative number of jobs created is 6, 312,” he said. He added: “It is worth noting that SPEDU has introduced six new products namely, copper cables, optic lenses, lemons, shooting range, furniture and HDPE pipes.” Meanwhile, the mayor also told the council meeting that production at the much-lauded Selebi-Phikwe Citrus project, which was commissioned in the first half of the year, is going on smoothly. The citrus project harvested its first fruit in March this year and has been exporting to different markets since then. “To date the project has exported 140 tonnes of lemons to Saudi Arabia, Canada and United Arab Emirates. In addition, 1, 251 tonnes of grapefruit and 490 tonnes of mandarins have so far been exported to European markets,” he said.
Modimana added that the project currently has 501 employees in the farm and pack house combined. The citrus venture is expected to directly create over 1, 000 employment opportunities for the locals once it has reached full production in the next five years. The 1, 500-hectare farm is leased from the Mmadinare Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited. It boasts over 800, 000 various citrus trees and a state-of-the-art pack house.
