BY BUSINESS EDITOR
MBABANE – NTT Motors (Pty) Ltd has been enlisted as the best-evaluated tenderer to be awarded the Eswatini National Trust Commission (ENTC) motor vehicle supply tender.
NTT Motors was competing with Mbabane Motors (Pty) Ltd for the tender. As the procuring entity, ENTC said Mbabane Motors was not evaluated for the tender, thus being awarded to Mbabane Motors.
ENTC further requested all the unsuccessful applicants to submit a review within two weeks.
Worth noting, Government last year approved E60 million for a fencing project of 120km perimeter, that will cover an area of 80 000 hectares at the Big Five National Park, beneficiary to ENTC.
The previous Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs Moses Vilakati, together with his then counterpart at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Thuli Dladla who is now the Deputy Prime Minister led diplomats from various countries on a field visit at the Hlane Royal National Park and Mlawula Nature Reserve, to get first-hand information on the Big Five project. The Big Five animals are elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard and rhino.
The diplomats who honoured the tour were Earl Miller (United States of America), Brahma Jagabattuni (India), Dessislava Choumelova (European Union), Jeremy Liang (Taiwan), Carlos Lopes (Portugal) and Jeremiah Mendes (International Organisation for Migration).
The Eswatini National Trust Commission (ENTC) Board, together with senior staff members. The tour concluded with a hike to the Khabane Cave, which is a three-kilometre walk from the main road.
According to the Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ENTC Thulani Methula, the fencing of the merged Mlawula Nature Reserve, Hlane Royal National Park and Mbuluzi Game Reserve, will commence soon. The Acting CEO said it would cost E10 million to fence a distance of 20km.
“The government has already approved the budget to undertake the project. There is no foreseen relocation of families from the communities closer to this project,” he said. Methula further unpacked the project to the diplomats and emphasised that there were communities closer to it that had been engaged to be educated about the importance of nature conservation. Minister of Tourism Vilakati said this project was in line with the King’s vision of promoting tourism in the country as well as creating job opportunities for emaSwati.
Worth mentioning is that a study undertaken by the World Bank indicated that about 947,000 tourists visited Eswatini in 2021. Vilakati said the government had envisaged the need to promote tourism and nature conservation as the heartbeat of economic development. The minister said the development of the Big Five National Park would also reap positive rewards in the construction of five-star accommodation for the tourists.
He said inviting the diplomats to be part of the tour was a means to ensure that they marketed the country’s tourism sector to their respective countries.
