R1bn boost for Coega IDZ
Financial year starts with three new investment projects
THE Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) has started its new financial year with the announcement of three new investments collectively valued at more than R1- billion.
The imminent roll-out of a manufacturing cement grinding plant, a ready mix concrete plant and a gas cylinder plant follows a bumper 2015-16 financial year for the IDZ which saw nearly R12-billion of investments into the zone.
Coega Development Corporation (CDC) spokesman Dr Ayanda Vilakazi said the latest developments, which represented advancements in economic transformation in the metals and manufacturing sectors, were investments of more than R1-billion into the IDZ.
They were specified as a R650-million manufacturing cement grinding plant, a R71-million ready mix concrete plant and a R350-million gas cylinder plant, with the companies named yesterday as MM Engineering, Kenako Concrete and Osho Cement.
“This announcement follows the unaudited results of what has been another successful financial year for the organisation, in which the CDC proved its fortitude as a leader in investment attraction by securing a total of 16 investors with a combined investment value of R11.7-billion,” Vilakazi said.
While full details of the new entrants to the IDZ were not yet available, he said MM Engineering’s investment comprised a joint venture between a Turkish and a South African company.
The Kenako Concrete entry involved a local joint venture which included a black entrepreneur, while Osho Cement’s entry represented a joint venture between an Austrian and a South African company.
He said MM Engineering’s IDZ facility would serve the domestic market, countries within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and international markets.
Kenako Concrete would serve markets in South Africa from its new facility, while products from Osho Cement would be made available in the domestic and SADC markets.
“The new ventures have increased our international footprint in foreign direct investment into the IDZ.”
Vilakazi said 401 direct jobs and 2 472 construction jobs would result.
CDC’s business development manager for the metal and manufacturing sectors, Sadick Davids, said the site hand-over for the first project was planned for this month.
Some of these projects were owned by previously disadvantaged people, particularly women, Davids said.
CDC has, through its IDZ investment projects and infrastructure development programmes, created more than 83 405 jobs in the past eight years.
It is projected that the organisation will for the first time in 16 years, since inception, exceed 100 000 jobs by the end of the 2016-17 financial year.