The Western Cape MEC for Economic Development and Tourism Mr Alan Winde says the province is slowly moving towards boosting the Industrial Development Zones (IDZ) to create space in the economy. He was speaking at the Special Economic Zones Bill public hearing held by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) in Cape Town, today.
"All parties concerned should take time to engage with this piece of legislation from a regional point of view and Government should create a space that is needed in our economy to make a difference and look at doing things differently," said Winde.
He also said that case studies from other parts of the world where the IDZs worked well should be taken into consideration especially where incentives were used to attract local and international investors.
Winde also pointed out that the proposed Saldanha Bay IDZ is not about Cape Town, but it is about benefiting the region in general, South Africa and the rest of the continent.
The public hearings session was attended by over seventy delegates from government, business, general public and media. It was quite a positive meeting with comments and inputs that will assist the dti strengthening and consolidating of the policy and the bill.
The purpose of the public hearings is to give members of the public, organised labour and business an opportunity to express their views on the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Bill and Policy.
The main aim of SEZ bill and policy is to support the acceleration of industrial development in order to promote growth and creation of sustainable and decent jobs and also to promote the creation of a regionally diverse industrial economy through the creation of new industrial hubs in under development regions.
The SEZs can be utilised to create a sustainable environment for foreign and domestic direct investment and build targeted industries aimed at developing strategic industrial capabilities and industrial regions.
The purpose of the Bill, which was gazetted by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies last month, is to provide for an effective mechanism for the development, operation and management of special economic zones in order to promote accelerated industrial development and industrial decentralisation.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe (Departmental Spokesperson)
Tel: 012 394 1650
Cell: 079 492 1774
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
