The massive R28 billion Umzimvubu Basin Water Management project in Transkei will – by comparison – make even the Coega Industrial Development Zone seem small.

This project could provide as many as 500 000 employment opportunities.

This was predicted by Eastern Cape Development Corporation chief executive Kevin Wakeford, who was commenting on information emerging at the two-day Eastern Cape jobs summit, which opened in East London yesterday.

A packed audience at a beachfront hotel had earlier heard that it was hoped the project would grow eastern and central Transkei – including Mthatha – into a metropole.

Wakeford, together with Coega CEO Pepi Silinga and accountant Sindi Zilwa, have been appointed by Premier Nosimo Balindlela to oversee and monitor crucial post-summit processes and actions on a “report-back timeframe” basis.

“The Umzimvubu project was not just about a dam, but about water as a critical growth and development resource,” said Andrew Murray, the chief executive of the Eastern Cape Socio-economic Consultative Council.

He said the scheme would place 112 000 hectares of land under irrigation, while the envisaged catchment dam would have a 2 000 megawatt power output capacity – double that of Koeberg.

It would also make possible profitable water transfers to other parts of the country – even across provincial borders. He listed forestry and timber as other sectors that lent themselves to potential growth.

“We already have 130 000 hectares of indigenous forest, 170 000ha of planted forest and then there is potentially another 150 000ha that can be commercially planted,” Murray said. This could create a further 8 000 jobs.

The R1,3-billion Steinhoff timber investment in the Maclear area, which was creating 3 000 direct and 10 000 indirect jobs, was an example of the potential in the timber industry.

Other sectors with huge potential, and which the province was favourably positioned to exploit with adequate investment, include tourism, agriculture, agro-processing and the Indwe-Molteno low-grade coal.

Murray said the summit was not so much about creating new initiatives as reaffirming the projects and initiatives already identified in the Provincial Growth and Development Plan and driving these forward resolutely.

Referring to the Eastern Cape as the most naturally resourced province, Murray said lack of infrastructure, developmental funding and a shortage of skills lay at the heart of the problem in accessing the full potential of the region.

He outlined PGDP targets as growing the provincial economy by 5% to 8% over the next decade; reducing unemployment by 50%; cutting back by 80% the number of indigent households; securing food security by 2014 and delivering clean water and acceptable sanitation services.

“The situation speaks for itself, but the province cannot do it alone. There has to be massive buy-in by the national government, national entities and the private sector if we are to create jobs,” Murray said.