Construction of the Nelson Mandela Metro’s R100 million logistics and light industrial assembly park next to Volkswagen SA in Uitenhage will begin this month, says the Uitenhage Despatch Development Initiative (UDDI).

The development, according to the agency, will begin as soon as an agreement that transfers ownership of the project from the UDDI to a private development company has been concluded.

The Nelson Mandela Bay Supplier Park is a public/private-sector initiative facilitated by the UDDI and bankrolled by the Eastern Cape provincial government through the Eastern Cape Development Corp. and backed by the Development Bank of SA.

Some R35million would also come from metro.

Its aim, according to UDDI project director, Dave Simpson is to provide a cost effective approach to the complex requirements of automotive component assembly.

Built on a 42ha site – likely to expand to 150ha later – next to VW’s plant, the park will be about one kilometre from the automotive centre of the metro region, and will be directly linked by freeway to the harbour and airport, as well as the new Port Ngqura, 26km east of Uitenhage.

Once under construction later this month, the project is expected to create hundreds of jobs and, during operation, to enhance the efficiency of the country’s automotive sector.

The UDDI said yesterday that initial design and scoping work for the park had been completed and a full team of contractors had been appointed under the technical project leadership of architecture firm, Bham, Tayob, Khan and Matub.

Project co-ordination would be the responsibility of the Automotive Industry Development Centre (AIDC)
Project manager Lance Schultz said yesterday that discussions with several component manufacturers and other potential tenants during the feasibility phase had indicated a strong interest in the park.

“Some companies are looking for larger premises, others are interested in potential cost savings in shifting to the park while others wish to align their products and services in accordance with the requirements of customers like VW, GM, Ford and others,’’ said Schultz.

Simpson described the park as an ideal solution to various needs of the local auto sector, in terms of especially product development and prompt delivery.

“Unlike conventional parks which are focused on large clusters, the logistics park recognises the need for suppliers to have the ability to react instantaneously to the variables of just-in-time manufacturing.

“The park is therefore structured round a logistics core which monitors globally the movement of material as well as customer requirements. The core assumes responsibility for all material movement as well as the flow of finished parts to the customer.

“It also recognises that the new generation of automotive product is modular in design, a concept which not only allows the outsourcing of major assembly groups, but also drastically reduces the amount of expensive material being held in the supply chain,” he said.