Arch Wood Protection to expand into Botswana

Against this background, Arch Wood Protection recently participated in the 2011 Building Botswana Conference and Exhibition under the aegis of the Association of Botswana Building and Civil Engineering Contractors (ABCON), the oldest body of its kind in the country.

Arch Wood Protection is raising its profile in Botswana due to the changes in demand patterns for treated timber in the country as it moves beyond the basics of infrastructure towards more broad-based development.

Huge potential in Botswana

The expo therefore focused on a shift in government's focus and how local stakeholders in the Botswana built industries sector need to adapt going forward. Says Arch Wood Protection's Daryll Erhke: "The Botswana government may be winding down its investment in major infrastructure projects but other sectors are coming to the fore, notably housing development by the Botswana Housing Corporation which also provides mortgage and rental properties. Botswana is therefore still a large and growing market for treated timber both in poles and sawn timber."

"The trend in Botswana is for merchant and truss plant manufacturers to treat the timber locally to reduce the cost of timber and it's notable that all structural timber is now treated in Botswana.

Arch therefore saw the conference and expo as an opportunity to partner our Botswana customers in further developing their market for treated timber, particularly given the fact that the event was aimed at small- and medium-sized contractors to help them adjust to changing market conditions," Erhke adds.

The market potential in Botswana is tremendous across all sectors of the economy from agriculture to housing. Although traditionally the market has favoured creosote, consumers and users of treated wood in Botswana are moving towards Tanalith treated timber as a cleaner and easier product to use.