Efforts to draw, grow and retain major direct investment into the Nelson Mandela metro economy have begun to bear fruit, says Mayor Nceba Faku
Faku said investment worth millions of rands in various sectors had been pouring into the region over the last few years, with more to come.

Leading the pack was the automotive sector original equipment manufacturers, such as GM in Port Elizabeth and VW in Uitenhage, as well as component manufacturers, such as the Ford engine plant in Struandale.

Faku highlighted GM’s new R16 million parts warehouse in Port Elizabeth, VW’s multi-billion-rand Golf 5 export programme, Ford’s R150 million plant upgrade, A K Stone Guard’s new R28 million plant, M&R Foundry’s R26 million Alucast plant upgrade, Hella SA’s R47 million plant upgrade, and Shatterprufe’s R43 million upgrade.

In the retail sector, new investment initiatives included tile producer CTM’s R7,5 million expansion, further expansion to the Boardwalk Casino complex and the Greenacres and Walmer Park shopping centres, as well as expansion and growth in retail chain stores such as Shoprite, Checkers, and Spar.

Recently, pharmaceutical group Aspen Pharmacare built a R150 million wing for its plant in Port Elizabeth, while paper producer E H Walton completed a R70 million upgrade of its production facilities in the city.

Local government has committed more than R800 million for infrastructure construction and upgrade projects throughout the metro over the next three years. This included the recently announced amended budget of R110,7 million.

A large part, Faku said, would be allocated to economic development and infrastructural projects and programmes.

He said the multi-million-rand investments being made in the region were “evidence of the faith and confidence the private sector has in the government of our metro”.

Mike Kwenaite, political head of the metro’s economic development, tourism and agriculture unit, described the number of investments and their combined monetary value as being “almost unprecedented”.

“What these and other investments also show is that the many conferences and summits that we have hosted in our city are starting to bear fruit,” he said.

Kwenaite, however, attributed the successful efforts to joint action between local government, local business chambers, tertiary institutions, and individual companies.