WILL this be the year in which the Eastern Cape finally starts to emerge from the shadows and becomes a more significant economic player in South Africa and not only the major manufacturing centre for the automotive industry and the supplier of human capital to the rest of the country?
National Treasury noted in a statement last month that once signed into law – it has yet to be passed by the National Council of Provinces but this is expected to happen before the election – the SEZ Bill would “support employers in such zones”.
This year will also see the completion of the feasibility study for Project Mthombo, the oil refinery planned for the Coega IDZ and a decision will then be taken on whether to proceed with the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) stage which involves the detailed design.
While it would appear from the revised Integrated Resource Plan released by the Department of Energy that any decision on the construction of Nuclear 1 at Thyspunt is likely to be delayed, the focus will be on the exploration of shale gas with the department having spelled out what is described as the “Big Gas” scenario.
And that holds huge prospects for the Eastern Cape.
The overall picture is considerably more positive than it has been for some time and it would appear that finally the Eastern Cape may be poised to shed its Cinderella status. Patrick Cull is an Eastern Cape-based journalist
Future looks rosier for our Cinderella province
National Treasury noted in a statement last month that once signed into law – it has yet to be passed by the National Council of Provinces but this is expected to happen before the election – the SEZ Bill would “support employers in such zones”.
This year will also see the completion of the feasibility study for Project Mthombo, the oil refinery planned for the Coega IDZ and a decision will then be taken on whether to proceed with the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) stage which involves the detailed design.
While it would appear from the revised Integrated Resource Plan released by the Department of Energy that any decision on the construction of Nuclear 1 at Thyspunt is likely to be delayed, the focus will be on the exploration of shale gas with the department having spelled out what is described as the “Big Gas” scenario.
And that holds huge prospects for the Eastern Cape.
The overall picture is considerably more positive than it has been for some time and it would appear that finally the Eastern Cape may be poised to shed its Cinderella status. Patrick Cull is an Eastern Cape-based journalist
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