Mpuma to open investment opportunities
Mpumalanga Premier Thabang Makwetla has unveiled plans to extend investment opportunities by launching a growth fund to finance projects that banks may be reluctant to fund.
“We remain committed to establishing the Mpumalanga Growth Fund in order to promote investment in substantial projects that are financially viable over the long term period, but which commercial banks will not fund due to their lending criteria,” said Makwetla, delivering his State of the Province Address recently.
Premier Makwetla said the key strategies for the year will include substantial investments on roads infrastructure and highlighting investment opportunities in key growth sectors particularly in the mining, tourism, agro-processing and cultural industries.
The provincial government intends to allocate R200 million in 2008/2009, as seed capital to invite private sector contributions to the fund.
Big 5 flagship projects
The premier also noted the roll-out of the Big Five flagship projects has commenced, with the launching of the Accelerated Management Capacity Building Flagship project, which aims to provide communities with water and build the capacity of government officials.
The Big 5 flagship projects, which include the Maputo Corridor, the Moloto Rail Development Corridor, Accelerated Capacity Building for Managers, Water for All and Heritage, Greening Mpumalanga and Tourism, is intended to promote development, investment and tourism in the region.
Regarding the agricultural sector, the Makwetla said increased investments through the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme, specifically the high impact project such as Masibuyele Emasimini, were given an additional boost of R35 million.
This will be used to scale up the delivery of 83 tractors and planting 15,000 hectares of land to reach 5,916 new beneficiaries.
Responding to needy pupils whose parents can not afford school fees, Makwetla said the province will allocate an additional R20 million to increase the number of no fee schools to 1440, representing 75% of public schooling system.
This surpasses the national target of 60%.
2010 - full steam ahead
The premier said that the preparations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup will proceed according to plan and one step to ensure this involved last week's takeover by the provincial government of the Mbombela local municipality operations. This was done to restore stability because it is a designated host city. He said that "mismanagement" on the part of the municipality's management threatened the optimum utilisation of the benefits flowing from the city's status as a world cup host.
He also announced that the provincial government has established a “One-Stop 2010” office to act as a central point of coordination during the World Cup programmes and activities.
The Department of Culture, Sport and Recreation, in cooperating with Mbombela and the World Cup Directorate in the Premier's Office, have taken occupation of the new office block at the entrance of the provincial government complex, said Makwetla.
Statistics South Africa revealed that in 2007, about 82% of households in Mpumalanga had access to electricity for lighting, 77% lived in formal dwellings, 66% had access to a refrigerator, 78% had access to a cellphone and 41% had access to a flush-toilet, meaning that the bucket-toilet system was finally removed.
Article published courtesy of BuaNews
