rise
6 February 2007
Economic growth in KwaZulu-Natal has shown a steady increase over the past
few years with the highest growth of 14% recorded in the Uthungulu district
alone. The province has targeted an annual growth rate of over 4,5% up to 2009
and 6% thereafter.
This emerged at a one-day meeting of the Premier's Co-ordinating Forum (PCF)
at Premier S'bu Ndebele's offices in Pietermaritzburg today.
KwaZulu-Natal is now the second largest contributor to the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP), 16,5%, in South Africa.
In his opening remarks KwaZulu-Natal Premier S'bu Ndebele said the people of
the province had all worked hard to make KZN a peaceful and stable province.
"The province will now have to engage in a series of developmental issues
requiring joint co-ordination. The promotion of tourism in our province is one
of these key issues which must be aggressively undertaken. We need to use this
forum for information sharing, to co-ordinate transversal issues such as the
Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS), Integrated Development Plans
(IDPs), Operation Mbo, the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South
Africa (AsgiSA), 2010 World Cup, African Peer Review Mechanism, sports, the
activities of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and so
on.
"In the build-up and during 2010 we must have a very aggressive campaign to
promote our province. Tourists coming to South Africa must be able to say 'You
ain't seen nothing yet until you've been to KZN.' The bigger part of the 2010
World Cup is the associated activities that will take place now and beyond.
Therefore the promotion of our heritage and historical sites is also very
important," said Ndebele.
Various other provincial strategies including the provincial spatial
economic development strategy and an implementation plan for the five year
local government strategic agenda were presented at the PCF. This
implementation plan is based on the outcome of a review of the first five years
of the new local government agenda. One of the highlights of the implementation
plan was the eradication of the bucket system in KZN by 31 March 2007.
The PCF has been in operation since 2004 and is the implementation of the
provisions of Chapter 3 of the Constitution on co-operative governance.
National, provincial and local priorities must be integrated. Section 33 of the
Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) Act states that an IGR Forum must be
established. The Premier, MECs, mayors from the Ethekwini Municipality as well
as the various District Municipalities and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of
SALGA KZN are members of this forum. This forum meets four times a year. All
district municipalities in KZN also have their mayoral forums and district
co-ordinating forums in place.
For further information, please contact:
Logan Maistry
Office of the Premier
Cell: 083 644 4050
Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
6 February 2007
Source: SAPA
