KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Sihle Zikalala, today (Tuesday) officially opened the new multi-purpose 4 500-sqm iDube Cold Storage facility, located within Dube TradePort Special Economic Zone.
It represents an investment of R99.2 million and will cater to the growing demand for chilled and frozen perishables storage within the region. The facility will initially cater to meat importers servicing local retailers as well as exports of dairy, fruit concentrate and citrus to markets in the European Union and the Far East.
Zikalala highlighted that to date government had attracted R1.5 billion in private sector investment through various developments within Dube TradePort Special Economic Zone, with a further R4.25 billion in the immediate pipeline for developments located within the second phases of Dube TradeZone.
iDube Cold Storage – which falls under the auspices of the department of trade and industry’s (dti) Black Industrialist Programme – has the capacity to handle 8 600 mobile pallet positions, which can store up to 12 000 tonnes of perishable product.
The facility is also equipped to provide a number of ancillary services that include weighing, sorting, repackaging, order picking, and container plug in of products as well as providing distribution and logistics solutions.
