JUST THREE months after being given the provisional operator's licence, the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) has stepped up plans for the development of the 12 000 hectare Coega Industrial Development Zone outside Port Elizabeth. Over the next year, the CDC plans to build 30 kilometres of roads, seven bridges, a four-loop interchange, 40 000 square metres of accommodation and other facilities for construction workers, five thousand square metres of offices, and a recruitment centre. These details are included in full-page press advertisements designed to encourage businesses in the Eastern Cape to register as suppliers to the CDC. In a separate advertisement, the CDC has invited tenders for the construction of a recruitment facility situated in the training and academic cluster of the Coega IDZ. The 1100 square metre recruitment centre will include an auditorium, a partially-enclosed multi-purpose concourse, offices and interview rooms. It will be situated close to the zone and within easy reach of residential areas within the Nelson Mandela Metro, says CDC communications manager Raymond Hartle. Independent estimates are that Coega will produce more than 22 000 permanent jobs, while 54 000 construction jobs will be created both directly and indirectly from the project. "Against the background of the vast recruitment exercise which is being implemented, the recruitment centre is a vital component of the Coega project," says Hartle. "Our appeal to local businesses to register as potential suppliers shows our commitment to stimulating the Eastern Cape economy. The advertisement in Monday's newspapers in the province outlines just some of the opportunities," he adds. "We will, for example, need hundreds of thousands of lunch packs and all the other equipment needed to keep an army of construction workers in the field. "They, in turn, will need services like banking and retail shops." In addition to the roads, bridges, offices and construction villages, the CDC has plans to lay "hundreds of kilometres of electrical cabling, in addition to water and reticulation systems within the IDZ". Skills and services that will be needed include landscapers, horticulturalists, estate agents, laundry, travel, drilling, medical and maintenance. "The CDC is committed to using Eastern Cape businesses and skills wherever possible, but the first step has to be taken by the businesses themselves. If they don't register with us, we may not know they exist," says Hartle. Companies can register on the CDC web site at www.coega.com, or collect forms at the Community Self Employment Centre, the Port Elizabeth Regional Manufacturing Advisory Centre, the East Cape African Chamber of Commerce, the East Cape Builders' Association, the Port Elizabeth Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the SA Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors, the Northern Areas Business Chamber of Commerce, and the Foundation for African Business and Consumer Services. In East London and Umtata, forms are available from the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC).