Pretoria - The Department of Trade and Industry (dti) is hopeful that the Industrial Parks Programme will lead to broader economic and industrial development for South Africa.
Addressing the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry in Parliament, on Wednesday, dti Director General Lionel October said the department is responsible for ensuring that industrial parks are viable.
“It is important to note that our responsibility is to ensure that we turn industrial parks into economically viable entities that will promote economic inclusivity. We need to have national consensus on this programme which provides the much needed jobs in areas that have been overlooked in the recent past.
“We have forged strategic partnerships for the implementation of the revitalisation on a national scale,” said October.
The Director General was updating the committee on progress made since the initiation of the revitalisation of industrial parks programme by the dti in September 2015.
In addition, October mentioned that of the ten identified industrial parks, six have already been approved for funding, two of which have completed Phase1 of the revitalisation programme.
“Phase 1 comprises of the upgrading of security infrastructure, the erecting of fencing and street lighting that included top structures and critical electricity requirements. We will continue till the year 2020 when we complete Phase 4 that will produce sustainable industrial parks that are able to attract tenants and also uplift the life of communities they are located in,” he said.
Reporting on some of the milestones realised, the Deputy Director-General of Special Economic Zone and Economic Transformation at the dti, Sipho Zikode, said the Botshabelo Industrial Park had attracted new business from various investors since its revitalisation.
“To date, ZZ Knitting [is] residing in the park with a total investment of R500 000 to date and creating 62 new jobs. There is also Blue Maize whose investment will be more than R900 000 with a potential to create more than 100 jobs and Mzii and Maxwell Enterprises with a R2 000 000 total investment and a potential to create 35 jobs.
All these developments do indicate positive feedback from tenants and we have already received keen interest in the renewing of lease agreements that will improve the retention rate of the industrial parks,” said Zikode. – SAnews.gov.za
