The first stage of the Botswana Diamond Technology Park near Gaborone is nearing completion. The South African Diamond Corporation owns the first building. Steinmetz plans to open a cutting, polishing and jewelry-manufacturing facility there at the end of the month.
The architecture of the park is based on a `rough to polished` concept of diamonds. The second stage of the park involves the construction of `The Atrium,` which will serve as a central service building and feature machinery supply companies, IT companies, a laboratory, cleaning service providers and more.
The decision to build the technology park constitutes a clear change in official policy as 15 companies, which were earlier denied permission to process diamonds, have been granted relevant licenses to do so.