Programme Director,
The CEO of the Dube Trade Port, Ms Saxen Van Coller,
Our esteemed investors from the Shree Property Holdings; Dignitaries Present,
Ladies and gentlemen,
All protocol observed.
In March 2012, we came together, here at the Dube Trade Port to witness the historic official opening, by President Jacob Zuma, of this Provincial flagship infrastructural project, just 22 months after the development began operations.
A little more than a year later, we again today come together at the Dube TradePort; this time to celebrate the launch of the construction of premises by the first private sector investor in this precinct - a historic occasion in itself, for it marks, quite clearly, the private sector’s vote of confidence in the development of the Dube TradePort as an airport city - a fledgling aerotropolis - and will pave the way for many similar private sector investments going forward.
The Dube Trade Port is our province's foremost development and is one which, perhaps, best evidences the National Government’s commitment to infrastructural development on a massive scale around South Africa.
Indeed, ladies and gentlemen, in the years since 2009 we have been privileged to have witnessed many initiatives which have truly empowered our province, KwaZulu-Natal; initiatives which collectively give South Africa, generally, and our Province, specifically, a marked competitive advantage in the global investment arena.
This period was especially characterised by the birth of the biggest infrastructural project the provincial government of KwaZulu-Natal has undertaken since the beginning of our new democracy and is the consequence of a bold vision for the future positioning of KwaZulu-Natal as a major business hub - a business and trade gateway to South Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and the world.
Our vision was to establish Southern Africa's premier air logistics platform right here in KwaZulu-Natal in the certain knowledge that with international competition for the ever increasing slices of the market intensifying, we required a solution of some magnitude to compete with the best in the world.
Full Speech [PDF]
