Gauteng Premier Ms Nomvula Mokonyane has assured Greek, Italian and Portuguese businesses representatives that the provincial government was committed to creating an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive.
Government's commitment, Premier Mokonyane said, included tackling the problem of crime in the province and cited successes in certain areas crime prevention which has led to decreases in bank robberies and cash in-transit heights in the province.
Premier Mokonyane was speaking in Bedfordview, east of Johannesburg on Thursday night where she met with business people representing South Africa's Greek, Italian and Portuguese communities affiliated to the Helenic, Italian and Portuguese (HIP) Alliance.
This was the first such engagement between the Premier and the HIP business group. Premier Mokonyane was accompanied by the MEC for Infrastructure Development Mr Bheki Nkosi.
The meeting was also attended by a numerous South Africans with historical links to these communities such as renowned lawyer Advocate George Bizos, soccer supremo and businessman Jomo Sono and dignitaries from the South African Italian Chamber of Industries.
The Italian Ambassador Vincenzo Schioppa and Greeck Consular-General to South Africa Lili Grammatika and the chief executive of international car manufacturer Fiat South Africa also attended.
The meeting offered a frank and unmediated engagement with the Premier with some of the business people raising concerns over key challenges they faced among them red-tape, the cost of doing business, lack of policy cohesion as well as safety and security.
The Premier said Government was currently looking at improving the police's forensic units as part of its bid to clamp down on crime. She said Government wanted to use Gauteng as a platform to promote economic opportunities. "This province has been created not only by South Africans but also by people coming from all over the world. We would want to invest more on economic infrastructure to ensure that SA prospers.
"As we speak, together with the National Departments of Finance and Trade and Industry, Gauteng would pilot one stop business service centres located at the OR Tambo International Airport and Sandton Convention Centre," she said.
She added that the provincial government would also be engaging with all the Metropolitan municipalities in Gauteng to seek ways to do away with regulations that were inhibiting effective business practices in the province.
The provincial government was also considering giving more authority and responsibilities to the City of Johannesburg so that the City was not always required to seek permission from the province on certain matters relating to trade and development.
"Johannesburg will be an area where we will be investing more resources focusing on Information Communications Technologies, Financial Services and other sectors," she said. Premier Mokonyane also touched on some of the important issues relating to the development of infrastructure in the province to allow effective business operations including the creation of freight hubs at OR Tambo International and Springs, Eldorado Park and Krugersdorp as well as the Johannesburg and eThekwini Corridor currently under consideration which will focus on both passenger and goods transportation systems.
"We are currently looking at feasibility studies and Gauteng will bring its experiences acquired through projects such as the construction of the Gautrain network," she said. The Provincial Government was also working on the revitalisation of the Germiston Railway connection to link Gauteng, Limpopo and Southern Africa countries while the West Rand has been identified as an area that would focus on businesses dealing in renewable energies.
Premier Mokonyane also revealed that the Gauteng Government had reached an agreement with the Mpumalanga Provincial Government for the revival of the Ekandustria, an industrial zone in the Ekangala Region of Mpumalanga to set up a solar energy plant.
"We will be working in this project with the government of Mpumalanga but we will be a lead province in this regard. Investment in infrastructure is real in this province. What we seek to do, is to ensure that government creates an enabling infrastructure for business in this province. We are not only dealing with what is within our term of office. But we have a long term vision that goes until 2055," she said.
Some of the key developments in the pipeline include developments on the N14 and the R28 connecting Pretoria and the West Rand.
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