At the same time, independent research shows that awareness and favourable support of the Coega Project have increased dramatically outside the Eastern Cape since the Coega Development Corporation launched its bold advertising campaign in May. Coega Development Corporation (CDC) executive manager communications, Raymond Hartle, says the increased awareness of the project and business opportunities as shown by the number and value of tenders being advertised can be attributed to both the Coega advertising campaign and the stream of the project implementation news coming out. “Public Affairs minister Jeff Radebe summed it up perfectly when he described Coega as the first major and significant maritime and civil engineering project in South Africa, and indeed Africa, for some time. It will be the largest single government-sponsored infrastructure development in recent times ... and should provide comfort and confidence to any outside investors interested in the Coega project,’” says Hartle. The chief economist at SG Securities, Nico Czypionka, was recently quoted saying that Coega was contributing towards the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad). “For Nepad, it [Coega] simply means that Africa is capable, in the form of South Africa, of putting together big projects and infrastructure developments”. From South Africa’s academia, respected Rhodes University professor of African Studies, Rok Ajulu, has said that one of the challenges facing Nepad is Africa’s ability to attract sufficient amounts of foreign direct investment, and the monumental task of putting physical telecommunications and capital infrastructure throughout the continent. “Even though Coega is still in its construction phase, the project is making a huge contribution in that direction and could be a building block of the rescue plan. These are highly-respected commentators. Investors take note of what they say,” says Hartle. A boom in Port Elizabeth’s housing market shows that the project is reversing the exodus from the Eastern Cape. A Western Cape based daily newspaper reported in its August 2, 2002 edition that “the property shortage in the Eastern Cape is expected to worsen as local buyers and investors continue to snap up available homes, with the situation compounded by the much touted multi-billion rand industrial development 20km east of Port Elizabeth, the Coega Project. More importantly and exciting for the Nelson Mandela metro is that by far the coverage on Coega is given to positive developments. The debate around whether or not Coega should be developed is over. Coega is happening,” says Hartle. Meanwhile, the Coega communication campaign tracking survey has shown that three months after the campaign was launched, 91 per cent of those who support the project, have said it is “vital for economic” growth of the Eastern Cape and the African continent as a whole. “But, perhaps the most positive message for the Eastern Cape and the rest of the region is that 78 per cent of respondents interviewed in the survey believe that Coega will contribute towards making South Africa a leading player in world trade,” says Hartle.