THE PORT of East London has been left out in the cold by Transnet which has awarded development funding to six of South Africa's seven commercial harbours - excluding East London - for capital investment projects over the next five years. Now the city's business sector has formed the Port Expansion Business Care (PEBC) grouping and has called for an immediate meeting with Government Transnet has earmarked R6.2bn for development. Durban and Coega (R1.5bn and R1.2b respectively) get top priority. Richards Bay benefits by R1.02bn, followed by Cape Town (R863m), Port Elizabeth (R478m) and Saldanha (R464m). SA Port Operations East London understands the R160m East London had previously been granted for extension to the car terminal outer parking area, container stacking area and replacement of ageing straddle carriers is all it is to receive. But business in the city sees it as a definite threat to the future of the port. It has called for R5bn for local needs. Lobbying groups have achieved little success. Now the attitude is "we are marching to Pretoria". The Buffalo City Municipality (BCM), Daimler Chrysler SA, Safmarine, KPMG, ELIDZ and ECDC have formed the new PEBC, with BCM mayor Zintle Peter spearheading the march on government to fund the port project. The committee under Peter consists of senior BCM councillors John Badenhorst and Quinton Williams, ECDC's Pierre le Pan, IDZ's Simphiwe Kondlo and Terry Taylor representing National Ports Authority. The deadline for the task team is May 2007, says Badenhorst. The expansion plan includes deepening the harbour, creating additional container handling space and introducing gantry cranes.