Briefing parliamentarians recently, the Minister of Agriculture, Fidelis Molao said the project status is currently at 72%.
“The construction of Tsabong Multi-Species Abattoir is a Design and Build Project. The brickwork for the slaughter building, rendering plant building, lairage building, and the water tank base is complete.
Slaughter modules and modular refrigeration have been installed and the effluent water treatment and purification designs are also complete,” he said.
However, Molao said the contractor is still awaiting delivery of the water treatment equipment, rendering plant equipment, and steam generator, and all of these have passed the factory acceptance test.
The equipment the contractor awaits is expected for delivery in the last week of August.
Molao informed members the ministry plans to lease out the abattoir after completion.
“My ministry plans to lease the abattoir to a private investor hence the investor will determine the number of employees to efficiently operate the business,” he said, adding that farmers will supply the live animals to the abattoir or the abattoir could go into a farming contract with the investor.
The abattoir will service the Kgalagadi, Kweneng West, and Southern districts.
It's expected to play a role in marketing Botswana beef, mutton, lamb, chevon, and game meat. The state-of-the-art facility would also be instrumental in facilitating the production and marketing of livestock and game products thus increasing the country’s export revenue.
In addition, the project will facilitate the growth of the livestock sector skills transfer and dissemination as it's one of the critical links to the implementation of the beef and small stock cluster strategies which are key in improving commercialisation.
The minister was responding to questions by Kgalagadi South Member of Parliament Sam Brooks who wanted to know the cost of the project, the completion date, the planned operation after completion, and how farmers are involved in this operation.
