A visit by His Excellency, President Cyril Ramaphosa to the Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone (SEZ), a project managed by the Coega Development Corporation (CDC), marks a significant milestone in the development of the project.
Delivering his speech, on Tuesday in Tshwane, President Ramaphosa noted the work achieved and progress on-site, thus far.
He further highlighted that “with construction having started in August 2020, I have noticed how the planning and construction managed to create jobs, training, development and SMME opportunities.”
With the CDC, as the Implementing Agent (IA) on the project on behalf of TASEZ, the organization has welcomed the positive and unwavering support by the President. The CDC’s achievements on the project is due to hard work, commitment and dedication of its staff working together with stakeholders on the project, and most importantly, leveraging on the CDC’s experience accumulated over two decades through infrastructure development for both complex and mega projects in the Coega SEZ and assisting other SEZs throughout the country with their development, said Dr. Ayanda Vilakazi, CDC’s Head of Marketing, Brand and Communications.”
“With the CDC’s appointment by TASEZ as an IA, it demonstrates our resolve in enabling a capable state through using partnerships that seek to tackle complex projects,” adds Simlindele Manqina, CDC’s Stakeholder Relations & Communications Manager.
With the address taking place at the Ford South Africa Training Facility, delivering his speech, Andrea Cavallaro, the Operations Director – International Market Group at Ford Motor Company, highlighted the commitment by Ford South Africa to invest “$1,05-billion (R15,8-billion) into its South African operations.”
Welcoming the commitment by Ford Motor Company, H.E. President Ramaphosa illustrated the importance of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in growing economies. “FDI’s don’t only bring in money but also bring in much needed skills. We welcome the investment by Ford Motor Company.”
Whilst visiting phase one (1) of the project located in Nellmapius in Tshwane, H.E. President Ramaphosa was taken through the various work stages of the project and milestones achieved thus far.
On this important walk-about, the President highlighted – “the construction team that is going to deliver this wonderful site is doing a great job. The project is working out to be a real working site.” He further went onto to state that “out of the 34 targeted work packages, 22 successful SMME work packages have been delivered thus far, totaling over R170 million; therefore I would like to thank the people managing this process as communities are benefiting from this project.”
“The comments by the President are consistent with CDC’s vision, which is to be the leading catalyst for the championing of socio-economic development. “Whilst the CDC is regarded to be the leading SEZ in South Africa, our involvement in this project demonstrates the symbiotic & complementary relationship of SEZs throughout the country.” The CDC recognizes that because of its expertise and experience in SEZ development and operations, it has a duty to work with the other SEZs to achieve their developmental objectives in line with the National Development Plan (NDP) 2030, to grow the economy, create employment and sustainable livelihoods. To this end, the CDC continues to provide its expertise to other SEZs in the country and rest of the African continent,” says Dr. Vilakazi.
“The work done thus far at the Ford construction site demonstrates the capacity of SEZs to deliver mega projects. This is a fulltime approach of a joint up programme of government we have experimented on. SEZs have proven to be effective to enhance our capacity and crowed in private sector investment,” concluded Ramaphosa.