Mail &Guardian reporter
Spatial Development Initiatives (SDI’s) have created 518 investment opportunities valued at R115,4 billion – with the potential to create 118 000 new jobs – across South Africa.
By June this year, 144 of these projects, with an investment value of around R31- billion and the potential to create more than 32 000 jobs already approved, were under construction or were up and running.
Some of the key South African SDIs include:
The Richard’s Bay SDI.
Where: The SDI stretches between Richard’s Bay and Empangeni in northern KwaZulu- Natal.
What: Twenty-five industrial projects worth more than R16-billion and five new tourism developments.
Highlights: In October the Richard’s Bay Investment Centre will open to assist companies set up shop in the region.
The SDI will facilitate an upgrade of transport and municipal infrastructures, including the John Ross Highway that links Durban and Richard’s Bay and the development of a container terminal at the harbour.
The Fish River SDI
Where: The SDI consists of a series of development zones between East London and Port Elizabeth.
What: Nine projects worth R156-million are already up and running or under construction. When all nine are complete, 1 325 jobs will have been created in the automotive, clothing and textiles, transport and tourism industries.
Highlights: Three tourism projects to be set up in partnership with local communities. They are the development of the Great Fish River Nature Reserve, a fly- fishing venture near King William’s Town and the setting up of a nature reserve near Bathurst.
Other key Fish River projects are a R1,3- billion programme by international automakers Delta, Volkswagen and Mercedes Benz to increase their production for the local and export markets.
A number of investment opportunities – in the automotive component, textile, wool and mohair, food processing and timber and wood product industries – are under development.
The West Coast Investment Initiative (WCII)
Where: The initiative is centred on the region around Saldanha on the Cape West Coast.
What: WCII has projects in mining and mineral beneficiation, fishing, agriculture, tourism and infrastructure – valued at around R20-billion. The 120 projects that are ready for investment are expected to create some 20 000 jobs.
Highlights: The Anglo American Corporation announced it would take up one of the initiative’s biggest projects and build a R1,6-billion zinc smelter at Saldanha.
Lubombo SDI
Where: It covers northern KwaZulu-Natal, southern Mozambique and eastern Swaziland and comprises mainly agricultural and tourism investment projects.
What: Projects valued at around R1,2- billion that should create up to 4 000 jobs in the tourism and agricultural sectors. A transnational SDI, Lubombo includes projects in Swaziland and Mozambique.
Highlights: One of its key infrastructure projects is the upgrading of the road between Richard’s Bay and Maputo, and a link to Swaziland. A joint anti-malaria campaign between the three countries, to improve the health of local communities and help open the area to tourists, is also being run.
The SDI is improving and easing border controls and ensuring international co- operation in managing and conserving the region’s environment. At the moment, investment projects are being packaged and clear tendering procedures are being prepared for investors.
The Wild Coast SDI
Where: The Wild Coast SDI stretches along the Eastern Cape coast between East London and the KwaZulu-Natal border.
What: More than 30 commercial projects in tourism, forestry and agriculture. These projects could bring more than R500-million worth of new investment into the Wild Coast and create more than 20 000 new jobs.
Highlights: A special effort will be made to direct tourists to projects owned by residents of the Wild Coast, especially craft manufacturers and families who have turned their homesteads into traditional guest houses. These measures will help to deal with the criticism that SDIs only offer major investment opportunities to established companies and multinationals.
The SDI has set-up training programmes for communities with an interest in the projects. Eighteen tourism and leisure companies have qualified to bid for the SDI’s projects. The first tenders should be awarded by the end of the year.
The Maputo Corridor
Where: The first SDI to be established, it has succeeded in delivering investment and jobs along a corridor stretching from Gauteng to the Port of Maputo in Mozambique.
What: It has attracted $2,3-billion worth of investment and created around 20 000 jobs in industrial projects, tourism and small businesses.
South Africa’s Industrial Development Zones (IDZs) will be close to a port and will produce goods mainly for export. Companies located in the zone will also benefit from streamlined import and export procedures and the packaging of investment incentive schemes for easy use. There are plans for IDZ’s at Richard’s Bay, Saldanha on the West Coast and Coega, near Port Elizabeth.
The Coega IDZ
Where: It will be built next to a deep- water industrial port being constructed by Portnet at Algoa Bay, just north of Port Elizabeth.
What: An implementing authority will plan and develop infrastructure which will attract companies and stimulate industry in the area.
Gauteng Special Economic Zones Project
Where: Gauteng. It has plans to clear the way for Johannesburg International airport and City Deep to be declared an inland port and industrial development zone that will attract companies manufacturing goods for the export market, and run a pilot industrial regeneration project in the Alrode-Germiston area.
What: This SDI aims to boost the provincial economy by providing the infrastructure needed to develop hi-tech industries.
The type of industries that will be promoted include the production of multi- media goods, tourism, craft and cultural items and services for the business and financial sectors.