Coega ready to 'plug and play'
3 December 2004
The first sites in the Coega Industrial Development Zone are ready to "plug and play", says the Coega Development Corporation's Kelly Byrne, who adds: "Investors can move their bulldozers on site today and start building."
The Coega Project, comprising an industrial development complex and deepwater port 20 kilometres east of the city of Port Elizabeth, is the single largest infrastructure development project in the country since 1994.
Located on the south-eastern coast of the country, in one of the poorest provinces in South Africa, the project is the first industrial development zone (IDZ) - and one of the largest - to be established in South Africa.
The project falls in line with South Africa's vision to be a manufacturing centre for the world, and President Thabo Mbeki has officially declared the Coega IDZ a lead project in South Africa.
Byrne's green light follows the fast-track rollout of the basic infrastructure of the
zone in under two-and-a-half years.
During that time, the Coega Development Corporation (CDC), which is responsible for the development and marketing of the Coega IDZ, has provided roads, water, sewage and power to the zone.
Time advantages
"We are in a situation where we have enough strategic infrastructure in place so that if you come in as an investor and you wish to be sited at a specific spot, we can provide connections up to your site on a rapid 'plug and play' basis, which means that these services will be available to each site as they are needed", says Byrne.
"This creates significant time advantages, in that the factory connections can be completed simultaneous to the construction of the factory buildings.
"Most factories take 12 to 18 months to complete from the date that building starts, and the CDC will link the connections to the site at the same time", Byrne adds.
"This will also coincide with the
finishing of the port in a year's time. This is why we can say that Coega is 'open for business' now."
First full systems interchange
The significance of having such infrastructure in place cannot be overstated. Achievements by the CDC include the upgrading of the national road to a two-lane dual carriageway as it passes over and through the Coega IDZ.
Included in the roadworks are 120-metre culverts under the N2 to provide direct conveyor belt links between the deep-water port of Ngqura and the aluminium and other metals clusters.
Road links between various zones that fall on either side of the N2 are also under construction. The design and planning of a new bridge over the Coega River is also well advanced.
Coega will be linked to the N2 through the Eastern Cape's first full systems interchange, which includes eight bridges over the N2, as well as bridges over the main railway line linking Coega to the main national and
regional grids.
The bridges have been designed to allow for expansion of the rail network within the IDZ. Total cost of these roadworks is around R245-million.
Work on Neptune Road, the main highway within the IDZ, is also nearing completion. It is a six-lane dual carriageway up to the Coega metals clusters and aluminium zone, after which it becomes a four-lane highway through to the far end of the first phase of the IDZ, where it links up with an existing road (the R435), which has also been upgraded.
This road and rail link will provide access for construction crews to the aluminium site and other clusters.
A further road link for passenger cars and public transport has been built from the main Addo road on the western boundary of the IDZ. This link provides access to what has been designated as Zone 3 within the IDZ.
Three specialist zones
With the bulk of the Coega IDZ infrastructure in place, the CDC is busy
developing the three specialist clusters or zones within the IDZ - the textile and food processing cluster (zone 1), the automotive and electronic cluster (zone 2), and the academic, processing and business incubator cluster (zone 3).
"Much of the preparatory work has already been done in the area reserved for an aluminum smelter and downstream aluminum cluster, which means that the area is ready for its intended businesses", Byrne says.
Coega's information technology infrastructure is also ready to "plug and play".
Underground ducting is in place for fibre-optic links through to the main fibre-optic cable serving the Nelson Mandela Metro.
Bulk power is available throughout the first 6 500 hectare phase of the IDZ. "We have invested over R180-million in bulk power supply", says Byrne. This includes a 132 kilo Volt (kV) link to the aluminium smelter site, as well as to the port of Ngqura. Work is nearing completion on a further 20 sub-stations which will
provide stepped-down power throughout the zone.
Also in place in the zone are the bulk water and sewage pipelines. All of this has been achieved well within the CDC budget and set timeframes.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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