Dti to spend R216m on upgrades at industrial parks

26-01-2017
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Bizcommunity.com
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The Department of Trade and Industry (dti) plans to spend R216m on renovations at five industrial parks in the country.

On Tuesday, 24 January, minister Rob Davies said the renovations are aimed at upgrading the parks’ infrastructure so they can be better positioned to contribute to the country’s industrial development, economic growth and job creation.

“Last year, the dti spent more than R180m for the upgrading of six industrial parks spread across five provinces in the first phase of our Revitalisation of Industrial Parks Programme. We have set aside R216m from our critical infrastructure incentive programme to start revitalising five more this year,” said Davies.

The first phase of the revitalisation of the Nkowankowa, Ekandustria, Bodirelo, Phuthaditjhaba and Garankuwa Industrial Parks is due to commence after their budgets were approved late last year.

The revitalisation programme is implemented in four phases focusing on various areas, with the first being the upgrading of security infrastructure.

The dti 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.

“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 on the areas where the parks are located is felt as soon as the implementation begins, as most of the labour and construction materials are procured from those areas,” Davies said.

He said the department would like to see more industrial parks operating as centres of excellence and beehives of economic activity, contributing to the growth and diversification of the 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,” said the minister.

The dti 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 (NDP) and Industrial Policy Development Plan (IPAP) objectives.

Parks must be efficiently run to facilitate market access for goods manufactured there. They must provide financial and non-financial support and be clustered along industrial sector and value-chain lines.