The Department of Trade and Industry (dti) has set aside R216 million for the renovation of five industrial parks.
The parks, located in Limpopo, Gauteng, North West and Free State, will have their infrastructure upgraded so they can contribute to stimulating the country’s industrial development, economic growth and job creation.
“Last year, the dti spent more than R180 million upgrading six industrial parks across five provinces in phase 1 of our Revitalisation of the Industrial Parks Programme.“We have set aside R216 million from our critical infrastructure incentive programme to start revitalising five more this year,” said Trade and Industry Minister, Dr Rob Davies, on Wednesday.
The first phase of the revitalisation of Nkowankowa, Ekandustria, Bodirelo, Phuthaditjhaba and Garankuwa industrial parks is about to commence after their budgets were approved late last year.
“The positive impact of the programme on the economy of their respective areas is felt as soon as implementation begins, as most of the labour and construction materials are procured from those areas,” Minister Davies said.“The revitalisation will ensure that upgraded parks appeal to private investors, provide a conducive environment and attract investments that will create jobs and assist in promoting economic transformation,” the Minister said.
The dti is applying a holistic approach to the revitalisation initiative to ensure that enterprises based there participate in the mainstream economy to achieve the National Development Plan (NDP) and Industrial Policy Development Plan (IPAP) objectives.
This includes ensuring that they are efficiently run, facilitate market access for goods manufactured there, provide financial and non-financial support.
