The minister of trade and industry Thabiso Molapo yesterday took a conducted tour of the Ha Tikoe Industrial Estate to assess progress of the third phase of the project.
The project is funded by the ministry of trade and industry through the Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC). It kick-started in 2019 and is expected to be completed in 2020.
At least seven factory shells are being constructed and it is expected to create 2700 jobs upon completion, while 300 jobs were created during construction.
LNDC chief executive officer Mohato Seleke said since the start of the project’s phase 3 in July 29, they had been dogged by challenges like Covid-19, and not receiving any money from the government to pay contractors. This, he said, slows progress as the contractor is sometimes unable to pay his sub-contractors.
Molapo said the factories are an answer to the unemployment that seems to be a huge problem in the country.
On the issue of government not allocating LNDC the required funds, he said he will take the matter up with the minister of finance, in a bid to remedy it.
