Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Danny Jordaan went in to bat against the National Ports Authority on behalf of Buffalo City and his own metro yesterday, saying the NPA had to deal with the historic underdevelopment of the Eastern Cape’s port cities.
“Every single coastal city in the world is a thriving city – the contradictions are East London and Nelson Mandela Bay – and the question is ‘why?’ The gate to the ocean is locked – please unlock those gates.”
A strident but diplomatic Jordaan had top NPA executives on the back foot when he pointed to the fact that the East London and Port Elizabeth harbours, built during the colonial era, had been overtaken by the growth of Saldanha and Richards Bay.
The NPA was announcing investment totalling R700-million at the Port of Ngqura in a new administration building, a basin for administrative craft such as tugs and automated mooring technology. Jordaan welcomed the investment, but said the NPA was perpetuating the despair and sense of hopelessness of the provinces’s unemployed people.
Pointing to the R9-billion investment made in Saldanha, the mayor said: “We were here long before Saldanha. We have to be a priority.”
With 11 berths in East London, 13 in PE and four at Ngqura, Jordaan said the total available berths in the Eastern Cape was far less than Durban, Cape Town or Richards Bay.
He said the metro was currently hosting a delegation from the Beijing Automotive Corporation, which wanted to invest R11-billion in passenger vehicle production at the Coega Industrial Development Zone.
The main rationale for locating in Nelson Mandela Bay was to use the ports’ export transhipment capabilities.
NPA chief executive Richard Vallihu had earlier said that as custodian of the country’s ports, the company held the key to economic development.
In response, Jordaan said: “We cannot have economic growth unless we align our vision with your time-frames.” — rayh@dispatch.co.za