Biofuel plan boost for Coega IDZ
Green project could create 16 000 jobs
APLANNED biofuel project to be built in Nelson Mandela Bay’s Coega Industrial Development Zone will, it is hoped, create about 16 000 jobs, its developers said yesterday. The Sakhisizwe Biofuels project, which aims to generate 100 million litres of biofuel a year, comes as a result of a partnership between Coega and the Eastern Cape Rural Development Agency (ECRDA).
Biofuel production has been hailed as the future for green energy as commodities like maize, sugar cane or vegetable oil are sources for it.
The government has also thrown its weight behind biofuel production, with legislation that at least 5% biodiesel must be blended with diesel by October next year.
Yesterday, Sakhisizwe Renewable Energy chief executive William Charles said the project in Coega was expected to be operational by 2017.
He said construction would begin the year after next.
“We are deep into the planning phase. The land in Coega has been reserved and we will go into construction in 2016. We are ready. The man- ufacturing facility will require an investment of R1.3-billion which will create 16 000 full time jobs during operations and 250 full-time equivalent jobs during the construction phase.
“We already have R350-million committed by a German bank. The rest of the money is to be raised upon the completion of the bankability report – [one] that will say ‘investors, this is viable, come and invest’.
“This will be done as soon as early next year,” Charles said.
Yet to be concluded is an environmental impact assessment report before a manufacturing licence is applied for.
“The future is in the renewable energy sphere. This is the only industry to be, I do not care who says what.
“We have a global warming challenge and we need to do something and opening a biofuel [unit] will assist in this,” he said.
The ECRDA has partnered with farmers in the Eastern Cape to help them grow crops for various agro-processing uses.
ECRDA has supported farmers who are expected to begin a cropping programme on 40 000ha of land next year to plant oil seeds, soya beans and sunflower seeds as rotational crops.