A strategic framework to improve provincial economic performance through resource mobilisation and to increase state investment in economic infrastructure was unveiled by the Eastern Cape MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Environmental Affairs, Mr Mcebisi Jonas.
MEC Jonas said, “The framework is a backbone for enhancing economic performance and it looks holistically to the key interventions to be made by the province. Capital investment in the identified sectors will boost the economy and will ensure global competitiveness of the province.”
The infrastructure investments are in the logistics; water and energy; telecommunications; renewable energy; forestry and agriculture and environmental management sectors. Some of these projects are at advanced stages in terms of research to validate their strategic importance as a means of responding to the current economic challenges facing the province.
The geographic spread of these strategic initiatives are concentrated in clusters which are spread over four geographic development zones: Port Elizabeth and surrounds (Coega Industrial Development Zone); East London and surrounds (East London Industrial Development Zone); the Wild Coast Development Zone; and the Central hinterland.
“The integrated hinterland investment will contribute in facilitating trade in manufactured goods: auto, petroleum, agro processing, capital goods and general commercial transactions which will ensure interconnectivity to the rest of the provincial and national economies.
It will provide a basis for increased viability and investment attraction of the Wild Coast area and provide access to the region to deliver basic services and realise development objectives,” says Jonas.
The expansion of the East London Port is one of the ways to ensure efficiency by creating access to markets for increased investor confidence, improved national and regional logistics chains, industrial growth and for improving import and export capability, allowing for diversification and growth of industries which include automotive of and export of maize and other goods.
“The current status of the East London port does not propel backward linkages which are beneficial for improvement of export efficiency, diversion from high traffic habours. Major investments in the port will allow sector diversification and expansion of industrial competence,” says Jonas.
Improving logistical capability by linking East London and Port Elizabeth and inland to the national roads network is imperative for overall nodal connectivity. This will contribute to the readiness of strategic projects like Project Mthombo – PetroSA’s multi-billion dollar crude oil refinery. The refinery will produce diesel and petrol to meet the domestic and regional supply shortfall for liquid fuels, and will ensure that South Africa is not over-relying on imported fuel products.
“Project Mthombo, will assist in unlocking the Eastern Cape’s growth potential - most notably the auto and petro-chemical industries. The proposed refinery will have a positive impact on impoverished communities and address socio-economic issues like poverty, job-creation and most importantly economic transformation in the region.
During the construction phase, about 27 500 jobs will be created and 18 500 permanent obs once operational. The location of the refinery in the province is most welcomed as it forms an integral part of the Eastern Cape Province’s strategic economic plan. The Eastern Cape Provincial gross domestic product (GDP) could rise by between 3.5 percent and 5.5 percent as a result of the overall investment,” says Jonas.
The Competitive Supplier Development Programme (CSDP) that PetroSA is putting into place makes provision for the development and transfer of skills to local SMME’s to enable them to compete on an equal footing with established local and international companies. The project will further channel economic activities to Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment contractors.
Jonas welcomed the establishment of a Centre of Excellence in Coega as part of the plan for skills development and training. It will teach people the necessary skills required for constructing and operating the refinery. “A child growing up in the rural villages of the province now has the opportunity to become an engineer at the refinery in the near future,” says Jonas.
Source: Eastern Cape Department of Economic Development and Environmental Affairs
