New Jo’burg inland port taking shape

Plans for a new billion rand inland port in Johannesburg are progressing well with construction expected to start in April next year. According to Dr Willie Els of the development company, Inframax Holdings, the private company responsible for the planning and development of the project called Tambo Springs, it is currently in the process of getting all the land zoning in place. “This process is expected to be completed before the end of the year and we hope to see dust flying on the site by April 2012, with the first users being able to use the premises some 18 months later,” he told FTW. The 630-hectare site for the new project – some 25 kilometres south-east of the Johannesburg CBD – will see a world-class inland port and logistics facility come to life, says Els. It will be developed in phases and will take at least ten years to reach fruition. “We have also finalised the preliminary business plan and are meeting with funders as we speak. Some two months ago it was also announced as a priority project for the Gauteng province, so we are extremely excited about the project and the progress we are making.” According to Franco Eleuteri of Franco Eleuteri & Associates, who is consulting on the project, it will play an extremely important role especially taking into account that Gauteng is the logistics gateway into sub- Saharan Africa. It will be designed to help meet Gauteng’s need to increase the current capacity in and out of Johannesburg to 3 million TEUs by 2015 and 4m by 2020. The new port has access to the N3 freeway to Durban, the N1 to Cape Town, via the R390 to Port Elizabeth and East London as well as freeways to the southern industrial centres of Heidelberg, Vereeniging, Vanderbijl Park and Sasolburg. The site is also only 22km from City Deep and 25km from the OR Tambo airfreight terminal. These are all critical factors in the project’s success, says Eleuteri. “To be a gateway of any kind and to be able to function effectively any project like this needs to be connected and integrated across the country. It must be able to connect to the ports and the airport.”