The Nelson Mandela Bay economy contributes roughly 40% of the Eastern Cape's GDP, thanks largely to the automotive and manufacturing sectors in Port Elizabeth.

According to big business, the city and Coega Development Corporation are playing their part in ensuring a smooth ride for industry.

"The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality works very closely with the business fraternity in meeting the objectives of our economic growth and development strategy. We have been rather fortunate in that we were not that adversely affected by the power supply shortage that befell the country recently, which means business and projects are all still on track," said executive mayor Nondumiso Maphazi.

Maphazi added that the municipality was working closely with the relevant chambers of commerce and that she had established an economic advisory panel in an effort to encourage participation from investors.

Samantha Venter, operations manager of the PE Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PERCCI), said as the voice of business in the metro, the chamber enjoyed a positive relationship with the municipality, interacting regularly on a high level to thrash out issues around economic development, tourism and crime.

"The chamber lobbied on behalf of business for large industrial customers to be exempted from load shedding in the interests of protecting the economy of the metro, and continues to engage with the metro to pursue electricity saving and energy efficiency," said Venter, adding that the metro had pledged to continue consulting business, via the chamber, in the event of any further blackouts.

According to Venter, the automotive sector is the pillar of the Nelson Mandela Bay economy, followed by tourism, the pharmaceutical industry and agriculture. The industrial development strategy being developed by PERCCI, in partnership with the metro and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, was aimed at identifying new areas of industrial development which could diversify the local economy. New areas being looked at include business process outsourcing (call centres), agro-processing and information communication technology.

"The outlook for the future is quite positive. By 2009 Nelson Mandela Bay will be the only South African city with two ports. This points to a need to develop the exporting capacity of local business. The provision of infrastructure remains a critical challenge; for example, the extension of the runway at Port Elizabeth airport to support the growth of tourism," said Venter.

VWSA spokesperson Bill Stephens said the municipality had made a concerted effort to grow and sustain big business in the region. "We have fairly constant demands for resources like energy, water and infrastructure, but then, we are the biggest ratepayers in the region," said Stephens.

‘‘The municipality understands the strategic importance of sustaining big business in Nelson Mandela Bay, so they have done a very good job of growing the infrastructure we require around us. Our relationship with them is good, " said Stephens.

"We are on a major drive to improve the capacity of local suppliers to build more components here. The municipality is helping us set up manufacturing plants in the region that will benefit the local automotive industry's logistics and supply chains by having them nearer our operations.

‘‘The park is located right next to our VWSA plant and we're trying to draw key suppliers into the park with the help of the CDC," he added.