More ports in the pipeline for SA

Government has developed a roadmap for the proclamation of new ports in the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal and plans to establish a Small Harbours Development Authority.

“Some 300 million tonnes of cargo are shipped on foreign owned vessels and 1.2 million tonnes of liquid fuel passes along our coast annually. In this regard, significant investment is required in new port infrastructure including rig repairs,” said president Jacob Zuma in an update on the implementation of Operation Phakisa last week.

He said the rehabilitation, upgrade and redevelopment of some small ports, as well as the identification and proclamation of new harbours had begun.
“We have identified Gansbaai, Saldanha Bay, Struisbaai, Gordons Bay and Lamberts Bay for rehabilitation and development,” said Zuma.

He added that government was also focused on the acceleration of offshore oil and gas exploration and was hoping to complete the drilling of 30 exploration wells in ten years.

“This would produce 370 000 barrels of oil and gas per day. If this is achieved, it would contribute an annual amount of U$2.2 billion to the gross domestic product, while reducing the dependence on oil and gas imports during the production phase,” said Zuma.

According to him, some projects have already commenced, with a total of R9.2 billion to be spent to develop Saldanha Bay as an oil and gas hub. Zuma said the phased gas pipeline routes had also been defined.

Furthermore, environmental authorisation has been approved for the Burgan Fuel Storage facility in the port of Cape Town. “This is an investment of approximately R660 million and construction will commence by the end of August 2015,” Zuma said.