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The Coega Development Corporation says it has attracted investments worth R4.1b in the financial year ended March 2012.
In its annual report for the 2011/ 2012 financial year tabled in the Bisho Legislature earlier this month, the CDC said in the process it had exceeded its targeted number of new investors.
Chief Executive, Pepi Selinga, says the current value of operating investments and those in the pipeline now exceeds R15b, "the bulk of which comprises alternative energy (R6.4-billion), downstream metals (R4-billion), and auto manufacturing and components (R3-billion)."
"The total value of projects in the pipeline sits at just over R140-billion," he said,.
Silinga said "the financial year 2011/12 - in spite of several challenges including the European debt crisis and electricity shortages delaying committed projects in the wake of funding scarcities and reduced commitments from power suppliers - had yielded positive results for the organisation, momentum it intends to capitalise on."
"The aim is critical mass. Initially, we believed that a single big investor would give Coega a boost towards its long-term viability. But it became obvious as the Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) developed that this original approach had limitations," Silinga said."
He said "the groundwork for critical mass with diversity has now been laid and with 21 operating investors as of 2011/12 and the India-South Africa consortium, AgniSteels establishing operations in the IDZ and China's biggest automotive manufacturer, First Automobile Works (FAW) soon to follow, there is no denying the attractiveness of the Coega IDZ as a strategic investment destination."
The organisation also made the strong argument that the Coega IDZ's development trajectory should not be evaluated against the short time it has been operational, with acting Chairman, Paul Jourdan emphasizing the long-term approach.
"As a Board member for 13 years, I believe the CDC's achievements deserve wider recognition. It is important to remember that infrastructural developments such as the Coega IDZ should be measured in decades and not a few years. This success has been underpinned by the unswerving support of the national Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), with Minister Rob Davies now at the helm, and the Eastern Cape Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism led by MEC Mcebisi Jonas."
The CDC, tasked with attracting investors and tenants to the Coega IDZ and Nelson Mandela Bay Logistics Park (NMBLP), has signed 36 lease agreements with investors since it started its investment promotion activities.
The CDC's key performance areas centre on: moves toward financial sustainability, attraction of foreign investment, job creation, training, increasing SMME (small, micro, medium enterprise) share of procurement and investing back into society through corporate social investment programmes.
