The Coega Special Economic Zone (SEZ) – which forms part of the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) – has been hailed as “by far the most successful SEZ on the African continent”, by the Chinese ambassador to South Africa, Songtian Lin.
He highlighted it as a good case study for Africa and the world on how to develop and operate an SEZ. This follows the CDC’s mid-year investment performance report revealing that it has signed eight new investors, exceeding its mid-year performance target by 167%.
Over the past six years, the CDC has attracted 77 new investors with a combined investment value of R47.7 billion.
Dr Ayanda Vilakazi, CDC’s head of marketing, brand and communications, said the continued investment in the SEZ was on the back of strong logistics infrastructure.
“Since 1999, the Coega SEZ has focused on the development of the SEZ in terms of infrastructure. The road and rail infrastructure is in place, which connects the Coega SEZ with Northern Cape, Gauteng and other provinces. This purpose-built Coega SEZ, which is integrated into the deep water port of Ngqura, is part of the country’s leading edge in logistics and infrastructure. The modern port infrastructure, at the deep water Port of Ngqura, has a capacity in excess of 2 million TEUs,” he said.
