Pretoria - The Western Cape is slowly moving towards boosting Industrial Development Zones (IDZs), Economic Development MEC Alan Winde says.
Winde was speaking at the Department of Trade and Industry's Special Economic Zones Bill public hearing in Cape Town.
"All parties concerned should take time to engage with this piece of legislation from a regional point of view and government should create a space that is needed in our economy to make a difference and look at doing things differently," said Winde on Tuesday.
The MEC said that case studies from other parts of the world where IDZs worked well should be taken into consideration.
He pointed out that the proposed Saldanha Bay IDZ was not only about Cape Town, but about benefiting the region in general, South Africa and the rest of the continent.
Over 70 delegates from government, business, general public and media attended Tuesday's hearing.
The purpose of the countrywide public hearings is to give members of the public, organised labour and business an opportunity to express their views on the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Bill and Policy.
The SEZ Bill is aimed at supporting the acceleration of industrial development in order to promote growth and creation of sustainable and decent jobs, and also to promote the creation of a regionally diverse industrial economy through the creation of new industrial hubs in underdeveloped regions.
The Bill, which was gazetted by Minister Rob Davies last month, is meant to provide for an effective mechanism for the development, operation and management of special economic zones in order to promote accelerated industrial development and industrial decentralisation.
