Western Cape wants its own IDZ

Government and NPA discuss the options
RAY SMUTS
NATAL has one, the Eastern Cape two so why can’t the Western Cape have an Industrial Development Zone to call its own?
This subject was under discussion last week when Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool’s cabinet held its first formal - and possibly historic - meeting with the National Ports Authority in the port of Cape Town.
It may be early days yet but an IDZ, perhaps two, for the Western Cape, is among the ideas emanating from the meeting between Rasool and the local NPA team headed by port manager Sanjay Govan.
Saldanha is apparently the preferred site but other potential locations could include the vicinity of the port of Cape Town, Cape Town International Airport or Mossel Bay.
The idea, it seems, would be to attract niche business to wherever the IDZs are sited, in the case of Saldanha heavy industry capable of benefiting from the availability of steel from Saldanha Steel. Cape Town, on the other hand, could focus on the clothing industry.
Govan says while development plans are still in the embryonic stage, the purpose of the meeting between cabinet and ports authority is to ensure that future development planning does not clash.
An NPA spokesman makes clear the future move is away from a port doing one thing and a city another; rather the drive should be toward an ongoing relationship between the two.