DURBAN - KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) Nomusa Dube-Ncube will on Friday visit stakeholders at Dube TradePort to welcome foreign investment of more than R3 billion (around US$180 million).
Dube-Ncube will be joined by other MECs who are part of the Economic Sectors, Investment, Employment and Infrastructure Development (ESEID) cluster of the executive council of the provincial government.
The MEC and her municipal counterparts will be visiting Samsung Electronics with a focus on the manufacture of their Quantum Dot display television set as well as locally manufactured refrigerators.
Dube-Ncube will also visit CHEM Energy, who is responsible for the manufacture of fuel cell products that are used in off-grid telecommunications power supply.
This follows Dube-Ncube’s National Council of Provinces (NCOP) address on Tuesday in which she was optimistic about turning the Covid-19 pandemic into an economic opportunity.
“Instead of wallowing in self-pity, we are saying in the lockdown regulations, which resulted in the disruption of the global food chain, is a blessing in disguise. Indigenous people are being empowered to be self-sufficient and produce their own goods,” Dube-Ncube told the NCOP on Tuesday.
“At Dube TradePort there are nine investments worth R3.2 billion (US$191 million) that have been approved and are not yet operational due to the lockdown. These investments present opportunities for emerging small players and will create an estimated 2,342 direct jobs.”
Dube-Ncube highlighted that the EDTEA’s economic reconstruction and transformation plan was approved last Wednesday by the Provincial Executive Council (PEC), which is chaired by KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala.
This plan was also presented before the KZN Economic Council last Friday.
The MEC said she planned to achieve this primarily through job creation.
“As we move forward, we expect an investment of more than R18 billion (around US$1 billion) at the Dube TradePort’s second phase of 45 hectares of prime industrial land,” said Dube-Ncube on Friday.
- African News Agency (ANA)