Oversight visit to Atlantis reinforces positive prospects
THE Select Committee on Trade and International Relations Chairperson, Eddie Makue says the committee is excited at the prospects of the Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone (SBIDZ) and the Atlantis Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
Makue was speaking at the conclusion of a five-day joint oversight visit that took place in Atlantis.
He said that the visit was a high learning curve for members of the Select Committee during the oversight in Saldanha Bay and that they were pleased to have included the proposed Special Economic Zone in Atlantis as their stop-over.
“We were very excited about the future prospects of these projects for two reasons.
“First, is that industrialisation is a key economic driver in South Africa and we are proud of the work that the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) is doing to engage with industrialisation processes.
“Second, we’re also excited when we look at the interest and the training that is already provided to young people through the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges, also through the training that is provided by the multinational corporations that are interested and even for those that are still considering investment here.
“We are happy as Members of Parliament, that the preparations have been done for such activities to benefit our economy,” he said.
Makue also raised concern about market access and the utilisations of the products that are being produced in Atlantis. “We are highly disturbed by the production that has come to a halt at one of the local companies here in Atlantis and the consequences that it has for the workers that benefited from employment opportunities in the industrialisation processes.
“We feel that inter-governmental co-operation is going to be a matter that we will have to give attention to as the Joint Select Committee.
“We also feel that the oversight has achieved its objectives of enabling us as MPs, to not only understand the legislative responsibilities that we have, but also the responsibilities to which we can hold the various government departments accountable.
“It is good that we are here first-hand to observe how well most of the departments that are reporting to us are performing although there is room for improvement in the minority of the departments.”