The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber says the 2017 Eastern Cape budget was not balanced enough to achieve the desired growth in the Eastern Cape.
Finance MEC Sakhumzi Somyo delivered the budget in the Bhisho legislature on Thursday afternoon.
Chamber CEO Kevin Hustler said if growth of more than 5% was the goal post, instead of just 1.3%, then the province needed more effort to roll out game changing projects from all spheres of government. "We reiterate our call on the provincial government to urgently lobby Transnet and the National Department of Public Enterprises to expedite the move of the tank farm and manganese ore facility from the Port of Port Elizabeth to Coega," he added.
Hustler said Somyo's focus on the six pillars of the Provincial Economic Development Strategy - namely agriculture, oceans economy, tourism, renewable energy, light manufacturing and the automotive industry - was welcomed. "We call on him to urgently engage on these six sectors with organised business bodies to ensure an enabling environment to unlock greater successes in these sectors of the economy," Hustler said. "While we realise the importance of improving the quality of education and healthcare in the province, the lion's share allocation of 89% of the Budget to social sectors, leaves little room for growing the economy to the desired levels we want achieved."
Hustler agreed with Somyo in that more investment was needed for the Eastern Cape, and welcomed his statement that the provincial government was committed to addressing the constraints of doing business and the cost of doing business. "We also welcome his announcement of further cost-cutting measures for the departments, and the undertaking to allocate 50% of provincial spend to local suppliers. Many SMEs and local businesses do still find that they are not being paid within the 30-day period, and we again call on government to adhere to this timeline," Hustler said.
