THE DEVELOPMENT of the Coega Industrial Development Zone could proceed before the construction of an adjacent deep-water container port at Ngqura, according to an economic viability study carried out by the Stellenbosch-based Maritime Education and Research Institute (Merit). A Coega Development Corporation(CC) briefing to businesses in the Nelson Mandela Metro was told that “the development of the IDZ at Coega is not dependent upon the establishment of a container terminal, but its proximity may be an inducement to firms using full containers for imports or exports to locate in the IDZ. “Similarly, the existence of the container terminal will not depend to any extent on traffic generated by the IDZ, although such traffic may eventually add to throughput,” the report adds. The building of a container terminal at Ngqura could, however, attract new investment to the Eastern Cape. “If the basic port infrastructure and the container terminal are provided, then only the marginal costs of adding berths and cargo handling facilities fro specific schemes involving imports and exports need be justified as a charge to such schemes. “This may attract industries to the IDZ dependent on large volumes of imported cargo or producing large volumes of exports,” the report states. Meanwhile, trade and industry minister Alec Erwin, has told Parliament that plans for the Coega project are on track.