The South African government through the Transnet National Port Authority has allocated USD455m to construct new port facilities in South African to boost the country’s economy.
According to statement from the Economic Sectors, Employment and Infrastructure Development on 8th March, existing ports facilities have been refurbished and maintained. The new port facilities have already created a record two hundred jobs.
In a media briefing held in Cape Town, the cluster chaired by Rural Development and land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti said work to grow the ocean economy is gaining momentum. They said an investment of R9.2 billion has been realized through a conjunction between the government and private sectors that so the establishment of Saldanha Bay as an oil and gas hub. This is to be used over the next five years.
14 licenses have been issued for oil and gas exploration, drilling of two exploration wells for potential oil and gas at the South African coast. The investment in gas infrastructure has already started and is expected to contribute immensely to the country’s energy security. Work on the offshore supply is already in progress and will see Saldanha Bay attracting oil rigs for maintenance and repair.
The surrounding communities are set to benefit through the secondary jobs created in addition to 500 direct and a further 3,000 indirect jobs created after the boat building sector was revitalized. “An amount of R353m over the next three years has already been unlocked in the ports of Durban and Cape Town for boat building infrastructure through incentives provided by government,” the Economic Cluster said.
R80 million has been set aside for the rehabilitation and maintenance of the proclaimed harbors in Gansbaai, Saldanha Bay, Struisbaai, Gordons Bay and Lamberts bay. This will as well include the establishment of three new harbors in Boegoebaal in the Northern Cape, port St Johns in Eastern Cape and Hibberdene in KwaZulu-Natal.
This is expected to spur economic development as well as give a boost to the rural economic development. Investments of more than R400 have been unlocked with10 aquaculture farms already in production. The first of the harvests from these aquaculture farms has already been made in the Humburg, following the harvest of dusky kob (kabeljou) as well as the Siyazama Aquaculture Cooperative in Hamburg that has sold its first harvest of the dusky kob to the Cape Town Fish Market
