Revitalised industrial parks will contribute to job creation and economic growth - Minister Davies
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies says the revitalisation of the state-owned industrial parks across the country will promote industrialisation and increase their contribution to job creation and the country’s economic growth.
According to Minister Davies, the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) identified a need to revitalise industrial parks located in various parts of the country, mainly the former homelands, as part of efforts to promote industrialisation, manufacturing and job creation.
“This was motivated by the recognition that these industrial parks have the capacity to serve as catalysts for broader economic and industrial development in their host regions, mainly townships and rural areas. We would like to see them contributing to economic growth, diversification of economic activity, attracting investments to the areas they are located in, job creation and addressing the problem of inequality,” says Minister Davies.
the dti has already conducted a scoping exercise for the industrial parks. This resulted in 10 of the state-owned parks being prioritised for revitalisation and refurbishment. These are located in Limpopo, North West, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga.
According to Minister Davies, the Revitalisation of the Industrial Parks Programme is part of the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP) aimed at promoting industrialisation in the country and boosting our manufacturing capacity to increase the production of exportable goods.
The programme is also in line with the department’s economic transformation initiatives aimed at ensuring that all regions of the country and enterprises based they participate meaningfully in the mainstream economy.
“The programme will go a long way in accelerating economic development in the lagging regions of the country by attracting investments from businesses that will be inspired to locate in the parks after they have been refurbished. It will also support job creation mainly in the manufacturing sector, assist in the development of the infrastructure and facilitate market access for companies operating from the parks.
In this way, the regions will be able to build, strengthen and develop their strategic industrial capabilities,” says Minister Davies.
He adds that the revitalisation programme will be implemented in phases focussing on various areas. These include the upgrading and provision of the security, electricity, road, bulk water supply and sewage treatment infrastructure.
the dti has entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) for the bank to manage and implement the construction phase of the revitalisation programme.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe
Tel: 012 394 1650
Mobile: 079 492 1774
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
