Setting up textile hub is Bay's goal

Approval for the community-public-private-partnership project has been given by the portfolio committee and the green light is now awaited from the full council.

The Department of Economic Development and Environmental Affairs has ploughed R3,2-million into the project and the NDA R1,9-million.

Siswana said yesterday that Mayor Nondumiso Maphazi would lead a delegation of all stakeholders to India to study how that country had established textile hubs.

The aim of the initiative is “to provide cheaper and more affordable textile products without compromising quality and sustainable income streams to currently unemployed people on a much wider scale, especially in the face of declining job and income-generating opportunities” - and the focus will be on the market that exists at schools for jerseys and uniforms.

It is hoped to secure a main investor with more than 50 years in the textile industry that concentrates on garment manufacturing, including that of school jerseys and uniforms and currently supplies major chain stores in South Africa.

A report presented to the economic development, tourism and agriculture portfolio committee says that “an arrangement is in the offing” between the Nelson Mandela Bay Textile Hub (NMBTH) consortium and the company for the expansion of its operations into the Coega Industrial Development Zone “with a view to increasing production capacity through an outsourcing partnership with the NMBTH”.

An investor in the joint company will provide the necessary skills and technology base for the programme “to acquire the competitive edge in the industry” while bringing into the mainstream the participation of cottage industry in the sector.

Looking at production targets, the report states that the business plan and analysis by the industry indicates that the value chain “will have to be able to deliver a quality product at an attractive price to the market to compete effectively.

“The training and development of the people will have to address these critical success factors effectively and high levels of productivity and quality should be the norm in all production areas.”

The cost of the training initiative for the NMBTH when in full operation is put at about R760000 a month (just over R9-million a year) for two years, after which it would operate at a lower level dependent on market needs.

The report states that once the training had been completed the knitting function would be structured in units of 20 members working from home who could earn more than R30000 a month after repayment costs on the knitting machines.

Source: The Herald

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