Forty firms reportedly mull Coega as investment site

Posted On Tuesday, 23 November 2004 02:00 Published by eProp Commercial Property News

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While Alcan is yet to commit to setting up an aluminium smelter at the Coega industrial development zone (IDZ), there are more than 40 other investors in the pipeline for this Eastern Cape IDZ, says Coega Development Corporation (CDC) spokesperson Vuyelwa Qinga-Vika.

Property-Housing-Residential “The plan is to sign up at least one investor within the next six months.” The 40-plus investors, in the metals, metallurgical, energy, automotive, logistics, textiles and ICT and electronics sectors, are at various stages of discussions with the CDC, from concept development, conducting feasibility studies, specific requirement discussions, provision of solutions, to site engineering.

The total investment amount involves about R30-billion, says Qinga-Vika, although it is unlikely that all the investors will sign up. Thirty-seven of the investors are foreign, while about five are domestic companies.

Infrastructure development at the IDZ is taking place at a brisk pace, she adds, reaching 70% completion in the core development area, which amounts to 6 500 ha of the total 11 500 ha Coega project site, which includes the Ngqura port.

“The core development area is the first to be developed, before construction moves on to the second phase, which will be guided by investor interest and commitment.” While the deepwater Ngqura port is speeding towards completion next year, uptake on the IDZ is slower than originally expected. The IDZ is yet to secure an anchor tenant.

The development corporation’s programme for the next twelve months includes a focused investment promotion guided by the results of a benchmarking exercise carried out by Belgium-based IBM Plant Location International, which identified the sectors of industry where the Coega IDZ has a global competitive advantage. The study measured Coega’s competitiveness in ten subsectors against 30 invest-ment destinations in the world. The CDC was benchmarked in five subsectors in the metals/metallurgical sector, two subsectors in the textiles sector, one in the automotive sector, and two in the services sector. These results are guiding CDC’s investment promotion and marketing strategy, says Qinga-Vika.

The CDC is still seeking to recruit an executive enterprise development manager, following Eugene Heeger’s departure earlier this year.