President Jacob Zuma will on Thursday, 8 March 2012, officially launch the Dube Trade Port in La Mercy, KwaZulu-Natal, in which the King Shaka International Airport is located.
In 2003, Cabinet took a decision to relocate the old Durban International Airport to La Mercy and to establish the Dube Trade Port which would incorporate the King Shaka International Airport. The airport was constructed and completed in time for the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup tournament.
One of the key strategic reasons for the relocation was to establish an integrated multi-modal logistics platform that would link the national road and rail systems to the seaports of Durban and Richards Bay, with an added value of air infrastructure to accommodate intercontinental-wide body aircraft.
The wider context and long-term strategic objective of the Dube Tradeport Project is the establishment of an Aerotropolis in the north of Durban, stretching from Umhlanga to Ballito, which will boost economic development and job creation in the North Coast and take forward the campaign against poverty, unemployment and inequality.
The project has been operational for 22 months and the first phase has been completed. This included the construction of the Cargo Terminal, Trade House, 29 South, Dube Square, Trade Zone and Dube City infrastructure, AgriZone, and the IT and Telecommunications platform.
In the State of the Province Address, the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Zweli Mkhize, announced developments including a road link that will provide additional access from the Cargo Terminal and Trade Zone to the N2 and R102 highways and also open up new property development opportunities in the area.
The launch of the trade port takes place just a few weeks after the President's State of the Nation Address in which he unveiled a major infrastructure development programme which he personally leads, through the Presidential Infrastructure Coordination Commission.
Amongst the five projects announced was the improvement of the movement of goods and economic integration through a Durban-Free State-Gauteng logistics and industrial corridor. This project is intended to connect the major economic centres of Gauteng and Durban/Pinetown, and at the same time, connect these centres with improved export capacity through our sea-ports. The Dube Trade Port project forms an important part of this pipeline of development projects.
This was followed by the budget speech delivered by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan which took the infrastructure drive further with the provision of resources. President Zuma will, on the same day, 8 March, also unveil a statue of educationist, author, newspaper publisher and founding President of the ANC John Langalibalele Dube, after whom the tradeport is named.
On 16 March the President will take his infrastructure promotion drive to Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape, where he will launch the completed Port of Ngqura. On the 4th of April the President will host a special meeting with principals of further education and training colleges nationwide to discuss the development of skills necessary needed to make this major infrastructure drive a success.
Enquiries:
Mac Maharaj
Cell: 079 879 3203
