The Department of Trade and Industry South Africa has set aside R216 million, approximately $16.2 million for the renovation of five industrial parks with the aim of upgrading their infrastructure in order to contribute in stimulating the country’s industrial development, economic growth and job creation.
“Last year, the Department of Trade and Industry South Africa spent more than R180 million for the upgrading of six industrial parks spread across five provinces on the first phase of our Revitalisation of the Industrial Parks Programme. We have set aside R216 million from our critical infrastructure incentive programme to start revitalising five more this year,” says the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies.
The first phase of the revitalisation of the Nkowankowa, Ekandustria, Bodirelo, Phuthaditjhaba and Garankuwa industrial parks is about to commence, after their budgets were approved late last year. The revitalisation programme is implemented in four phases focussing on various areas with the first being the upgrading of the security infrastructure.
“Our officials are already in the process of conducting inception meetings to discuss the implementation of the project with key stakeholders. The positive impact of the programme on the economy of the areas where they are located is felt as soon as the implementation begins as most of the labour and construction materials are procured from those areas,” says Minister Davies.
The Department of Trade and Industry South Africa identified a need to revitalise industrial parks located in various parts of the country, mainly the former homelands, as part of efforts to promote industrialisation, manufacturing and job creation.
“We would like to see these parks operating as centres of excellence and beehives of economic activity, contributing to the growth and diversification of our economy. The revitalisation process will ensure that the upgraded parks appeal to private investors, provide a conducive environment and attract investments that will create jobs and assist in promoting economic transformation,” emphasises Minister Davies.
He adds that the Department of Trade and Industry South Africa is applying a holistic approach to the revitalisation initiative to ensure that enterprises based there participate meaningfully in the mainstream economy in order to achieve the National Development Plan and Industrial Policy Development Plan objectives. This include ensuring that they are efficiently run, facilitating market access for goods manufactured there, providing financial and non-financial support and clustering them along industrial sector and value-chain lines.
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