Construction of a multi-million dollar Southern African Development Community (SADC) Standby Force regional logistics depot is set to
begin in May next year. After completion, the depot at Rasesa, 10km west of
Mochudi on the Gaborone/Mahalapye road, on the outskirts of Botswana’s capital
Gaborone; will give shelter to general purpose equipment for the military,
police and civilian components of the SADC standby force.
SADC’s director of defence and security affairs
organ Jorge Cardoso says that SADC member states set aside US$10 million for
the construction of the depot. The development of this project is at its second
phase while tendering is still taking place. The actual construction is set to
begin in May 2020. It is expected to start being operational by 2021, and full
operational capability is expected to be in 2023.
The SADC standby force was initiated at the 27th
Ordinary Summit of SADC heads of state and government in Lusaka 12 years ago.
SADC’s Defence Chiefs in 2006 decided to establish a regional logistics depot
in Botswana. Therefore Botswana allocated 19 hectares of land in Rasesa village
in the Kgatleng tribal area for the project.
Alongside the SADC brigade, it supports regional peace operations. According to the regional bloc’s politics, defence and security organ, its functions are; observation and monitoring, peace support, interventions for peace and security restoration as requested by member states. Actions to prevent the spread of conflict or the revival of violence after agreements have been reached.https://constructionreviewonline.com/2019/07/botswanas-sadc-log-depot-construction-set-to-start-next-year/
