Project manager to lead EL lobby for funds

LEONARD NEILL A PROJECT manager who will lead the East London business sector’s lobby at national government level to obtain special funds for the port’s development, will be appointed at the end of this month. He or she will then head the task team which is operating under Buffalo City Municipality (BCM) mayor Zintie Peter. “The Mayor and her committee are interviewing the applicants at present,” said municipal manager Gaster Sharply. “The selected person has the urgent task of surveying further all port requirements and then drawing up the full list to present to Government.” East London was left in the cold when Transnet allocated development funds to six of South Africa’s commercial ports last year. Now it wants government to provide R5 billion for port upgrades. “The appointed person will have the task of broadening the harbour expansion study to involve every necessary requirement,” says BCM councillor Quinton Williams. The only way to drive the harbour expansion is by making a socio-political case and lobbying for funds allocated to the government’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for SA (Asgisa), he said. The task team’s deadline is May 2007, when input must be made to government which will then make the final decisions on Asgisa investments. DaimlerChrysler, the Industrial Development Corporation and the Border Chamber of Business have all given full support to the task team.