KZN investment on the up
Chris Khumalo
11 November 2004
KwaZulu-Natal is on the verge of an investment boom, with R4.9-billion of direct investment having been ploughed into the province during the 2003/2004 financial year.
Over and above this, there is a potential of R6.6-billion investment still being negotiated which is likely to create 6 800 direct jobs in the province, Trade and Investment KwaZulu-Natal (TIK) said on Tuesday.
The TIK itself has been responsible for facilitating R744-million of foreign direct investment into the province during 2003/04, it emerged during a briefing by the TIK to the provincial legislature's finance portfolio committee in Pietermaritzburg.
"The economy has shown a strong performance in the recent past while the government has committed itself to a stable, investment-friendly macro-economic policy", TIK CEO Naledi Moyo-Ndwandwe said, adding that there were vast array of opportunities that could be tapped into by the foreign investor in the
province.
In the year under review, she said, the forestry and paper industry had seen a huge inflow of foreign direct investment into the province, accounting for R2.7-billion, while the automobile and parts industry had brought R1.8-billion into the province.
Other major players were leisure, entertainment and hotels (R167-million), software and computer services (R83-million), and real estate (R42-million).
Investment projects brought in by the TIK (R744-million), most of which are already under way, will create 5 800 jobs.
These include investments in the textile industry in Mooi River worth R340-million, and in the agro-processing industry in Vryheid in northern KwaZulu-Natal worth R200-million.
Moyo-Ndwandwe said there were other "pipeline projects" which could bring R6.6- billion into the province and create 6 800 direct jobs.
These, she said, were still being negotiated for the South Coast and Midlands. She said 2003 was a "tough" year for
foreign direct investment (FDI) worldwide, with Africa in general getting less than one percent of this.
Moyo-Ndwandwe said there were factors that negatively affected the ability of the province and the country to attract FDI compared to other international investment destinations. These, she said, included the long business "turnaround time" in South Africa.
"In Australia it takes three days to set up a business, while in South Africa it takes about 70 days. This is because we have to deal with the issues of environmental impact studies, public consultations and timeframes set to allow for objections by members of the public."
By the time we "make up our" minds, Moyo-Ndwandwe said, the investor could have moved somewhere else.
The province had also not finalised a spatial planning framework which would clearly point out which areas in the province were set aside for different kinds of industries. "That is why you find the textile industry scattered all
over the province", she said.
Source: BuaNews
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