Free State ready to do business
More than 250 investors descended in the Free State to participate in the inaugural Free State Investment Conference. This conference is part of the national drive to improve foreign direct investment in the country.
The two day investment conference under the theme, ‘’Promoting Investment in the Free State through Partnerships’ was a platform for Department of Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs to launch the 2019 Investment Prospectus containing investor ready projects in the ITC, Renewable Energy, Agriculture, Mining, Manufacturing, Aviation, Engineering, Agro-Processing and Infrastructure.
The conference was put together with the collaboration of economist, academics, and industrial experts. The expected guests at the conference were local, national and international investors. Currently Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the Free State is 3.3% of the general GDP. In order to ensure that the rate of economic growth rise significantly to create jobs, the FDI should be 5.8% of the GDP by 2023.
Addressing the conference, Premier Sisi Ntombela, said “ladies and gentlemen, most of my nights are sleepless nights because 48, 5% of the youth are unemployed, we are in trouble.” Premier invited investors to explore the different parts of the Free State in order to establish successful business which will increase the rate of economic growth which creates much needed jobs.
MEC responsible for Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs in the Free State, Mr Makalo Mohale announced the competitive advantages of the Free State to investors which include but not limited to; well-developed roads and rail infrastructure, availability of tertiary institutions with world class research capacity, quality schools offering quality education, favourable rates of utility services like water and electricity, reasonable and stable labour, availability of serviced land and low crime rate.
The MEC made a call for the business community to make a serious effort towards absorbing young people in their numbers in the fight against poverty. He urged everybody to ensure that value is added to Free State products for the benefit of its people.
One of the speakers on the day, Mr Mosa Mabuza, who is the CEO of South African Geoscience Council spoke about the future of mining in the province. He said, the province is seating on rich mineral resources that should be excavated from the ground and emphasised that the province shouldn’t be in impoverished and the Premier shouldn’t have sleepless nights because the Free State is a rich province.
MEC Makalo Mohale launched the 2019 Free State Investment Prospectus with high impact investor ready projects in the Free State. All these projects in the prospectus require R123 billions of which R16 billion has been invested by the private sector to date, leaving a net shortfall of R108 billion and when completed will create 21 240 jobs
Whilst the investors congratulated the Free State for this invitation, warned about the difficulty of doing business in the Free State due to red tape. Buoyed by the confidence of the Free State, in particular MEC Makalo Mohale’s bold undertaking to roll out the red carpet and not the red tape, one investor has already made a move to establish a Botshabelo Industrial Park. Progress from the undertakings will be evaluated in the next three months.
Enquiries:
Kagisho Leteane
Cell: 051 400 9477
E-mail: Leteanek@destea.gov.za
