Coega’s tough environmental standards are helping to attract investors, says CDC executive manager environment, John Raimondo. “Modern Industrial Development Zones (IDZ) have to maintain the highest international standards if we are to attract investors. The CDC is doing this and it is proving to be a huge attraction.” Coega is also one of the first industrial developments to have set emission standards for the whole zone rather than for individual factories. The result, says Raimondo, will be much cleaner surroundings than other industrial parks. “People who come here want to know that they are investing in a clean environment. Factory owners do not want to have to cope with the fallout from their neighbours. Nor do they want to be blamed for pollution caused by other factories in the zone.” Raimondo says the CDC will be encouraging investors to build factories using the best practicable environmental processes and to recycle their own waste. “In what we believe is another first in South Africa, we are insisting that factories monitor all their water use within the plant through a system of meters. Most factories outside of the zone have no way of telling where they are wasting or losing water. “We will also be charging a premium on waste water in order to encourage as much recycling as possible.” Factories will also be charged for air pollution. “It will be in their interests to keep emissions to a minimum,” he says. Similar incentives will be applied to solid waste. “Factories which separate all their solids for recycling will pay one rate, while those which do not meet these requirements will pay a penalty,” he says. Raimondo believes that these conditions will make Coega manufacturers more competitive internationally. “We are encouraging them to install the most modern and efficient systems in order to reduce consumption and waste to a minimum. That has to have a positive effect on productivity and return on their long term investment. “Most importantly, however, is the growing demand by consumers around the world that the products they use are manufactured in environmentally-sustainable factories and industrial areas. Coega investors can claim with confidence that they are sited in one of the world’s leading environmentally responsible industrial zones,” he says.