New investment in the West Bank will be pushed beyond the R1 billion mark with the announcement of the East London IDZ automotive supplier park's (ASP) first tenants on Wednesday.
While most of the city's high value industrial investments over the last two years have been concentrated in the IDZ, private investors are now slowly moving onto scarce West Bank land.
Simphiwe Kondlo, IDZ chief executive, will this morning announce seven new investors in the ASP with a total value of more than R600 million. This will more than double the value of committed investment into the IDZ to date.
"We are talking about companies whose premises have already been constructed, companies who are already starting to bring in their equipment into their factories within the IDZ," he said.
The new investors are mostly first tier auto component suppliers to DaimlerChrysler South Africa's W204 model, which will be launched next year.
Kondlo said the construction of the 23,5 hectare ASP has been the biggest project for the IDZ to date and has been achieved in record time.
"It was just in July this year that we awarded the contract for the construction of the ASP," Kondlo said.
The broader IDZ has already secured four investors, totalling R300 million.
Although on a smaller scale, at least three private investors have built new industrial developments west of the harbour totalling almost R60 million.
Value Logistics is presently building a R22 million warehouse on Settlers Way to cater for its expanding business.
Logistics company Schenker East London is also expanding its facilities with a R15 million warehouse on Military Road in the West Bank.
PBC Projects is building a R20 million office block and steel fabrication plant on Settlers Way, close to the airport.
PBC Projects manager, Pieter Booysen said it will be the first unit in a light industrial park.
Their biggest constraint was rezoning the property for industrial use. "It took us 10 months to get rezoning for the property. If we received it earlier, we would have been finished by now. We actually lost some potential investors because of the delay," he said.
Daily Dispatch
Publisher: I-Net Bridge
Source: I-Net Bridge
