East London, South Africa - Hosted by
SAFM’s Rowena Baird
the launch of the Eastern
Cape Province Trade, Investment and Tourism Symposium ushered captains of
industries from all sectors of the Eastern Cape Provincial Economy. The
event took place in East London at the East London International Convention
Centre on the 28 October 2013. An initiative that seeks to stimulate a robust discussion around the province’s
economy as well as to provide answers to the challenges that the Eastern Cape businesses are
confronted with.
The event also
launched the Eastern Cape
Province Trade, Investment and Tourism Promoting Guide A publication that profiles
the Eastern Cape province, its sectors and local businesses. They also publish
Trade, investment and Tourism opportunities in the province, these
opportunities are targeted to both local and foreign investors.
The audience included various stakeholders from all over
the province with the panel made up of the Deputy Minister of Economic Development Professor Hlengiwe
Mkhize, Economic Development and Environmental Affairs MEC Mcebisi Jonas, ELIDZ CEO Simphiwe Kondlo,
Eastern Cape Development Cooperation (ECDC) CEO Sitembiso Mase and the
Head of Department from the Provincial Social Development Department Bea Hackula.
During his
opening remarks, the event host and Director of BBM
Media Mr. Boyce Hlatshaneni said, “Today marks a very important day in the
Eastern Cape Province economy, whereby we are launching a very important
initiative that’s responds to a call by the minister of trade and industry, Mr. Rob Davis, a call to all
South African business and to fellow citizens to play their part towards economic
growth and development. Today we are also launching a radio programme in
partnership with SAFM to
promote trade investment and tourism in the province.
The guest speaker at the event, the Deputy Minister of
Economic Development Prof. Hlengiwe Mkhize accentuated the
following “I am pleased to
have this opportunity to participate in the launch of the Eastern Cape Province Trade, Investment and Tourism Promotion Symposium. Our work
together here captures our common recognition of the importance of the Eastern
Cape for our national economy. Inclusive growth in South Africa would of course
be meaningless if it did not also include this province.
First, and increasingly important, in February 2012 Cabinet adopted the
National Infrastructure Plan. The aim of the plan is to stimulate the economy
overall by increasing public investment and improving the quality of our core
economic infrastructure while steadily overcoming backlogs in historically
deprived regions.
The National Infrastructure
Plan establishes a 20-year pipeline project. Still, it has already boosted
public investment to 7, 6% of the GDP, compared to 6,8% in 2010. And as of
mid-2013, it sustained 150 000 jobs.
Second, the National Development Plan is being operationalised through the
New Growth Path and the Industrial Policy Action Plan. These strategies
identify jobs drivers in the economy and aim to facilitate their growth. They provide a framework for diversifying the
economy and identifying obstacles to growth that should also benefit the Eastern Cape.
The auto support scheme, which is by far the largest in fiscal terms of
our industrial policy measures, is particularly important for the Eastern Cape.
But sectors that should grow in this province under our industrial policy also
include business process services, capital goods, other transport equipment and
agro processing. Said the deputy
Minister;
Mr.
Mcebisi Jonas, the MEC for Economic Development, Environmental
Affairs and Tourism in the Eastern Cape focused on the status of implementation
of provincial infrastructural projects. He highligted progress on projects
already underway as well as a plans for other projects in the pipeline. In his
explanation he mentioned that the Strategic Infrastructure Projects, or SIPs,
with common themes are directly relevant to Eastern Cape and they include the following:
·
The programme to develop the South Eastern coast,
which includes logistics and other infrastructure including the new manganese
complex;
·
Improving infrastructure in the 23 worst-served municipal districts, which includes
most of the former Transkei and Ciskei;
·
Investment in rural productive infrastructure such
as silos, fencing;
·
A massive school-building
programme;
·
A programme to upgrade hospitals and clinics
·
Forestry (100,000 ha new plantations, Rehabilitation of
30,000 ha forests
·
Agriculture Sector (Small-scale crop farming, Livestock commercialisation, Commercial crop
farming)
·
Renewable Energy Sector (Alternative Energy Source Industries)
·
Agro-processing Sector (Two (2) sites have been
identified with existing but limited infrastructure. Ncora and Mqanduli over
134 farmers are targeted, 1800 ha to produce 10 000t of maize. DBSA’s Jobs Fund
approved R 73 million with EC
matched funding of R18 million
·
Telecoms Sector: A commitment to spreading access to broadband across the country; (SeaCom cable (COEGA), SeaCom cable (ELIDZ))
·
Water &
Energy Sector
o Ntabelanga Multi
Purpose Water Resource Development worth R7bn,
o
Project Mthombo with cost estimated at
R90.0bn (US$10bn): Refinery: R84.4bn, Port Infrastructure: R4.5bn, Desalination plant: R1.5bn
o
CCGT Power Station COAGA with total Investments is R 3bn, 500 construction jobs
o Nuclear Power station
·
Logistics
Sector
o Integrated Transport Hub
o Twinned Gateways
o Road construction - R72-N2-N6 road link,
o Transshipment Hub of the
Ngqura Port with a total estimated and planned investment in
the is
R 15.5 billion
between 2013/14 to 2019/20 financial years
o The
Port of East London with a total estimated and planned investment is R
2.4 billion between 2013/14 to 2019/20 financial years.
o
Rail connectivity between the Northern
Cape to the Port of Ngqura: this is a strategic multi-billion Rand corridor
investment for the country as outlined in SIP 3 for increasing the rail
capacity for exporting and beneficiation of Manganese ore from Northern
Cape to Port Elizabeth. Phase 1 is scheduled to come on stream from 2016, Phase
2 will be completed by 2019. The network investments are complemented by the
requisite rolling stock investments.
Phase 1 (partial doubling of Kimberley – De Aar) is not linked to any
capacity expansion, as it is merely rail work packages with existing EAIs that
have been fast tracked. The remaining investments along the route are still
required to increase rail Capacity.
o
The Manganese smelter will be
located at Coega IDZ and its part if SIP 3 projects, estimated investment is 2
billion for the smelter.
·
Shale gas exploration in the Karoo region,
estimates say that developing just a 10th of South Africa's estimated
resources could boost the economy by R200bn ($19.56 billion) a year and create
700,000 jobs. In his conclusion the MEC Ensure that in order to develop
a social plan to respond to looming mining crisis and mass job losses a need
for investor to work with the provincial is essential. He realizes that improved relationship with industry (auto cluster operational, non-auto
and agro-industry about to be launched in the new financial year will ensure
investor confidence.
He conclude by confirming a jobs Fund (R500m
leveraged for projects in auto, agro, forestry and skills development. The above projects and
programmes form part of the province’s strategic plan to develop the economy of
the province, said MEC Mcebisi Jonas.
The Eastern Cape
Development Corporation CEO, Mr Stembele Mase in his speech unpacked the immediately
available investment opportunities in the province: He started by pointing out
that the Eastern Cape has land use potential of 14,8 million
hectares for farming (including grazing and arable land). With suitable climatic conditions and rainfalls for the vast agricultural
activities, the province is one of the main livestock provinces in South
Africa.
·
34% of South African wool produce comes from the
Eastern Cape.
·
75% of mohair produce comes of the Eastern Cape.
·
24% of national milk produce is from the Eastern Cape.
This creates opportunities for targeted government support in terms of
incentives for mohair producers, dairy farmers and wool producers for example.
This could be in terms of targeted incentives and other investment policy
support programs.
Opportunities for maize
production and other food crops
for processing (milling, tomato paste etc.).
In other areas he mentioned that the South African biofuels strategy of
2007 provides opportunities to create jobs in the Energy-Crop and Biofuels
value chain. It is estimated that 20, 000 to 25, 000 jobs can be created. It
identifies Soya Beans, Sunflower and Canola as the crop (excluding maize), said
Mr. Mase
A mandatory blending opportunity starts from October 2015. 125, 000 hectares of land is required
to meet the 5% of national blending requirements. Opportunities exist for the
planting of Soya Beans, Sugar Beet,
Canola crops, for processing and conversion into bio-fuel products.
Other opportunities for business are Cheese, Yoghurts, Sour milk making production. Horticulture industries for processing of
deciduous fruits in (Langkloof Valley), citrus fruits (Sundays River Valley/Kat
River Valley, Pineapple (Port Alfred/ Peddie), Chicory (Alexander) already
exists, they need to be expanded together with market access initiatives,
domestically and international. Tomato paste processing opportunities. There
are business opportunities for Ultra High Temperate (UHT) processing plant in
the province to create jobs, and skills for the economy. There is also a need for business to
explore opportunies in the processing and conversion of Soya Bean, Sugar Beet, Canola Crops into bi-products for
Bio-Fuels. Soy bean is also a protein
rich crop for animal feed and human consumption (food security issues).
Focusing his speech to the work the ECDC has recently achieved, Mr Mase
pointed out that the ECDC has invested more than R9 million over the past year
in partnership with CSIR, IDC and other government agencies to research
economic and business opportunities in high impact strategic sectors. ECDC has invested R3 million
to stimulate and promote a SOYA BEAN corridor in Chris Hani district; this will
create opportunities for soya bean farmers to embark on processing the Soya
Beans into Bio-Fuel to meet the national bio-fuel blending requirements as per
the Bio-Fuel Strategy of 2007 which has now been approved.
ECDC has invested R3 million in launching and piloting of Bamboo trial
plant fields in Ndakana, Willowvale and Uitenhage. Once more this is an attempt
to stimulate new business opportunities and link them to the new
industrialisation policy (IPAP, PIDS, etc).
ECDC has provided business finance to the CITRUS FRUIT processors to
ensure the industry expands grows and creates sustainable jobs. ECDC has been
administering the Jobs Fund and has paid out R35 million to 65 companies in key sectors of the economy for
expansion.
ECDC also supported 98 co-operatives, herein are agriculture and
agro-processing co-operatives with R36 million to ensure creation of job
opportunities in the rural areas, thus linking the economies of the rural and
urban areas.
In our efforts to support our SMMEs to gain access to the new markets in
the Far East, we have funded a R3 million foreign exhibition stand in NINGBO,
China, which is one of the 2nd largest seaports in the world. This
is where seven (7) Eastern Cape companies are exposing their products. This is
the first of its kind in South Africa.
There is a lot of interest; many companies from the province are interested in
exposing their products in Chinese and Global markets. ECDC will make further
investments of R3 million to grow this exposure and the platform. said Mr. Mase.
Explaining the role of IDZs in economic development ELIDZ
CEO Simphiwe Kondlo said the focus was on strengthening manufacturing
capabilities and to attract export-oriented manufacturers. “As a frontrunner
IDZ, part of our mandate is to create opportunities that will reduce the red
tape in doing business. We have walked through difficult times where there was
minimal support and we had to prove that the IDZ concept can work”, said
Kondlo.
In the last year, the ELIDZ has secured eight investors
worth over R1 billion in investment value. In addition more than 21 000
construction jobs have been created, over 2 000 jobs in manufacturing with
27 investors already operational in the zone.
Kondlo attributed the success of the ELIDZ to the
strategic partnerships that have helped the organisation to reduce the price of
doing business citing the ELIDZ partnership with Mercedes Benz as a prime
example. “As a government entity, we have proven that investment can be
attracted to East London and we have been able to draw inspiration from our
strong automotive sector and diversify to renewable energy, agro-processing and
other sectors”, he said.
In collaboration with the
above key stakeholders the South African Trade, Investment and Tourism
Promotion Symposium (SATITPS) is an initiative designed
to compliment the work done by government and its agencies to speed up the pace
at which the South African Economy grows. It aim to achieve
this by providing a platform for key stakeholders in both the public and
private sector to engage on Trade and Investment opportunities, funding opportunities
and Trade and Investment
infrastructure.
The key objectives of the initiative are:
·
Pairing businesses with startup, growth and development
finance organisations (IDC, Sefa, NEF, DBSA)
The South
African Trade, Investment and Tourism Promotion Symposium will be hosted in
each and every province of South Africa. The below schedule provides dates for
all the visit throughout the country:
|
Province
|
Broadcast Month
|
|
Western Cape
|
22 November 2013
|
|
KZN
|
02 December 2013
|
|
Free State
|
27 January 2014
|
|
Northern Cape
|
18 February 2014
|
|
North West
|
26 March 2014
|
|
Limpopo
|
25 April 2014
|
|
Gauteng
|
23 May 2014
|
**the above
dates are subject to change*
In his
concluding remarks Mr. Boyce Hlatshaneni made a call to Corporate South Africa,
Government and its agencies to support the initiative by making sure that they
engage on the discussions and also by participate on the available marketing
opportunities that this platform provides. To view investment opportunities visit:
www.southafricanguide.co.za or contact Tel:
012 665 3457, Mobile: 0829234402, E-mail: tradeandinvest@southafricanguide.co.za,. To advertise
on the publications and broadcast contact advertise@southafricanguide.co.za
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