By Ntando Makhubu

Plans to establish a R5billion prosthetics factory in the Eastern Cape have again collapsed, this time due to the lack of key business documents and proof of a viable buyer.

The plans – for a plant to manufacture crutches, wheelchairs and artificial limbs – were proposed by the Chinese government and initially announced by former Health MEC Nomsa Jajula in 2007.

They would have seen the renovation of the dilapidated Mount Coke Hospital outside King William’s Town, and its conversion into a factory, creating jobs and developing skills in the process.

Last year the department dropped the plans, saying they were not corporate in nature and did not go into business partnerships.

The Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) snatched them up, saying the deal was a lucrative and viable one that would contribute to the long-term growth of the EC.

The ECDC’s head of development projects, Phakamisa George, said they approached the Chinese investors and realised they had the capacity to create jobs in the province.

Last week Dr Kevin Hogg, the local representative for the Chinese National Research Centre for Rehabilitation Technical Aids, said that after a few successful meetings with the ECDC, communication came to an abrupt halt.

“We had several meetings to discuss the project and I submitted the required documents, but towards the end of the year communication between us ceased,” Hogg said.

Calls and e-mails sent between November and January to the corporation had gone unanswered.

“The ECDC had indicated their commitment to the project and had urgently said they didn’t want to lose the opportunity,” he said.

Yesterday, the ECDC denied giving Hogg the cold shoulder.

ECDC marketing manager Mninawa Nomnga said: “We require a proper, detailed business proposal and, in this case, a signed letter of intent from its key stakeholder as assurance that there is demand for the production output.”

In this case, the letter of intent would have been from the Department of Health, which would have committed them to buying the limbs once they had been produced.

“This would ensure that the project is commercially viable and sustainable,” Nomnga said, adding that had they received these they would have begun a feasibility study.

The Department of Health said yesterday that government procurement processes stipulated that producers submit quotations, from which the best would be chosen.

“We cannot have a preferred supplier – all service providers must compete for business otherwise we would be in violation of the law,” the department’s deputy director for clinical services Dr Nandi Diliza said.

Source: Daily Dispatch