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EC job summit underway in EL


Cabinet Minister spelled out some details Thursday morning at the Eastern Cape Job Summit as to how the province will benefit from the massive infrastructure roll out.

Minister of Economic Development Ebrahim Patel told the summit that the upgraded N-2 Wild Coast Road and construction of the Umzimvubu Dam would form the spine for development and the creation of jobs in the eastern part of the province.

The linking of the Northern Cape with the Coega Industrial Development Zone as the “manganese corridor” of the country would be the developmental driver for Nelson Mandela Bay and its surrounds.

With regard to the western part of the Eastern Cape, the Minister said that by linking the Northern Cape with the Coega Industrial Development Zone it would be possible to promote the en-tire manganese value chain.

Patel said he believed there was also potential in the region for smart logistics centering on the Port of Ngqura as the transhipment hub of Southern Africa, adding that he believed this could improve the competitiveness of the automotive industry.

He also pointed to Project Mthombo, the oil refinery planned for Coega, saying that this would open the door for the development of petro-chemical industries.

Patel said the Umzimbuvu Dam, for which feasibility studies are currently being conducted, and irrigation scheme along with the upgraded N-2 Wild Coast Road would link the Eastern Cape with Kwa-Zulu Natal.

He said the development of the agricultural sector as a result of the construction of the dam would allow rural communities to be more than subsistence farmers and enter the mainstream economy adding that they would be able to access the KwaZulu-Natal market on the N-2 and thereafter move to other markets including Gauteng.

Patel said that what the initiative sought to do was “integrate and connect the economy.

(Source: Metro Minute - to subscribe mail metminutes@iafrica.com)