A consortium of Chinese investors, led by Hong Kong Mining Exchange (Hoi Mor), will be investing over R40 billion ($2.8 bn) into the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (SEZ), which they will also develop and manage.
Last week, Cabinet approved Minister Rob Davies’ decision to designate the SEZ, enabling the Minister to designate the zone and issue a SEZ operator permit to the Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism in Limpopo.
The industrial park will include power, coking, ferrochrome, ferromanganese, ferrosilicon, pig iron metallurgy, lime, steel and stainless steel plants. These projects will be implemented over a period of five years and are expected to create almost 21,000 jobs in the region.
The park will be operating within the SEZ, which will focus on the beneficiation of minerals and agricultural endowments. Some preliminary work, such as the identification of the land and environmental impact assessment, has already started in order to ensure that the proposed SEZ becomes a reality.
“The Special Economic Zones Programme is aimed at accelerating economic growth and development in designated regions of the country. The key measures of performance for the programme include increasing foreign and domestic direct investments, increasing value-added exports, creating jobs, building industrial clusters and regional industrial hubs,” said Minister Davies.
