The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber has welcomed Transnet's announcement of a multi-billion rand upgrade of the Port of Nqura and the Port Elizabeth harbour.
The parastatal announced yesterday that R7.1b will be spent on Ngura with the bulk of the money going towards new manganese and tank farm facilities.
The R1.9b upgrade of the PE harbour will centre around growing its automotive export/import facility.
CEO Kevin Hustler said the Chamber will continue to push for a good portion of the R1.9b to be spent on the establishment of a working harbour in Port Elizabeth.
" The Automotive trade would obviously welcome the additional capacity and the ability to export more effectively and efficiently through our ports so any spending in that direction will be welcomed. However, I would caution that at this point in time our forward prediction is on exports being a bit limited due to the international economic situation and we need to take cognisance of that, " Hustler said.
Furthermore, Hustler said the Chamber will keep a close eye on Transnet's time-lines of the fuel tank farm being relocated to Coega by the third quarter of 2015 and the ore dumps being moved in 2015/2016.
" I am a little bit concerned to see that the timelines might be slipping but as a Chamber we are mandated to keep a very close eye on those, but we must also understand these are massive infrastructure projects and it takes an enormous amount of both capital and will to move these things as well as the incumbent environmental impact studies that need to take place."
