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INLSA<\/p>\n
An aerial view of part of the Port of Richards Bay, where local business is crying out for the development of a dedicated container terminal. \tPicture: Andre Meyer<\/p>\n
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Business and municipal leaders in Richards Bay have appealed to the national government not to sideline the area and to build a new container terminal in the Zululand port as part of government\u2019s massive infrastructure investment drive. <\/p>\n
Their call follows President Jacob Zuma\u2019s announcement in his State of the Nation address last week that the government would be spending R300 billion on infrastructure projects over the next five years. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe want a fair share of the action. For too long Richards Bay has been sidelined, despite its huge potential,\u201d said Charmayne Pountney, CEO of the Zululand Chamber of Commerce and Industry. <\/p>\n
In December, Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba announced a further R3bn investment in upgrades to the Port of Richards Bay. Transnet documents also show more than R12bn would be spent on upgrades for the port over the next seven years, but no money has been earmarked for a container terminal. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a concern for us\u2026 Transnet is investing billions in upgrading facilities into and at the port of Richards Bay, but none of this is for new capital projects that will open up new economic opportunities for the area. As the Zululand Chamber, we are upping the ante in calling for a fully fledged container terminal. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a Cinderella container operation in Richards Bay run through the multi-purpose terminal\u2026 If we want to be taken seriously and get investment into our Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) we need a reasonably sized, dedicated container terminal here,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWith the priority being placed on already established hubs like Durban, with big projects like the dig-out port and the industrial corridor with Joburg, we fear Richards Bay will be pushed further to the sidelines. We can\u2019t allow this to happen\u2026 The most frustrating thing is that at our port there is more than 70 percent of the land available for leasing, unlike Durban where there is very little land available. <\/p>\n
\u201cA few years back, the old Transnet leadership told us we can forget about a container terminal in Richards Bay. But now we\u2019ve got the container terminal back on the radar of provincial government and need to continue to be the nagging voice and to motivate for this as the local business community.\u201d <\/p>\n
Pountney said a container terminal would be a major boost to the IDZ. \u201cThere is no question that a container terminal will stimulate the manufacturing sector in Richards Bay\u2026 In fact, it will support other sectors such as agriculture. A terminal with refrigeration facilities for fruit and vegetable exports would work. Our citrus farmers from neighbouring Nkwaleni used to export via Durban. But it became too expensive and now they don\u2019t grow oranges or export,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Elphas Mbatha, mayor of uMhlathuze, also expressed concern during Gigaba\u2019s recent visit that Richards Bay continued to be sidelined when it came to major infrastructure investment. He said the National Transport Master Plan recommended Richards Bay should handle 40 percent of KZN\u2019s containers and Durban 60 percent. He urged Gigaba to give a container terminal \u201cserious consideration\u201d. <\/p>\n
Mbatha said the huge investment in the Port of Ngqura (Coega) in the Eastern Cape had been a political one: \u201cThere were no volumes requested to prove the need for a container terminal development at Ngqura\u2026 There was huge investment in Ngqura, but the Richards Bay IDZ only received more funding two years ago.\u201d <\/p>\n
Gigaba had told the mayor his department would conduct a study to determine whether there was a need for a container terminal. \u201cThere are other considerations to bear in mind such as the role each port plays in the value chain and their distance from each other. We come under pressure from a range of parties all demanding infrastructure investments. We have to consider all the options,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Gary Bell, managing director of Bell Equipment, said he fully backed the call for a container terminal. \u201cWe use a couple of hundred containers annually for both importing parts as well as exporting machinery, parts and components. There would surely be a cost benefit for them to be handled through Richards Bay as opposed to Durban. A local container terminal would also improve our turnaround time while taking a load off from the congestion in the Durban port,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
INLSA An aerial view of part of the Port of Richards Bay, where local business is crying out for the development of a dedicated container terminal. Picture: Andre Meyer Business and municipal leaders in Richards Bay have appealed to the national government not to sideline the area and to build a new container terminal in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-7993","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}