Two Eastern Cape bio fuel projects are among 13 Greenfield and manufacturing projects approved by Trade and Industry Minister, Rob Davies, in accordance with Section 121 of the Income Tax Act.
According to a statement from DTI, investment in the projects valued at more than R21bn, will quality for tax incentives from a R20bn fund announced back in 2008.
The two Eastern Cape bio-fuels project to benefit from the incentives approved by Minister Davies, are an Ethanol Production facility to be constructed in Cradock and Rainbow Nations soy crushing plant at the Coega Industrial Development Zone.
The two projects represent total investments of around R3.9bn.
Davies says "the timing of the incentive scheme has been crucial in encouraging manufacturers to invest as they may otherwise have chosen to delay large scale projects due to currently high levels of risk and uncertainty in the global macro-economic environment."
DTI says "six of the projects will commence commercial production between March and August 2012, three in 2013 and the rest in 2014. An amount of R4.5 billion in additional tax allowances has been granted to the approved projects."
"These approved projects are all within the priority sectors identified in the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP); 8 are in the chemical sector, 1 in agro processing sector, 2 in the paper and pulp sector, and 2 in the bio-fuel sector," DTI said.
