Western Cape attracts investors

The Western Cape provincial government has over the years been trying to attract high levels of foreign investment by introducing initiatives such as the "Red Tape to Red Carpet"‚ which is aimed at making it easier to do business in the province by reducing bureaucracy.

The Western Cape says it has attracted more than R30bn in foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in the last three years. According to the provincial department of economic development and tourism‚ 80 FDI projects between 2009 and 2012 had created 6‚900 jobs.

Earlier in June‚ Chinese technology manufacturer Hisense officially reopened the old Tedelex factory in Atlantis. The factory will manufacture and assemble 400‚000 television sets and 400‚000 refrigerators annually. This could create up to 1‚200 jobs in the next three to five years.

Finance‚ economic development and tourism MEC Alan Winde said on Thursday (20 June) that more than R40m has been pumped into expanding Western Cape businesses in just two months‚ creating more than 100 jobs. Winde said the investments were in the agri-processing and renewable energy industries‚ two of the province's biggest growth sectors.

He said that over the next three years‚ the department - in conjunction with the province's investment and trade promotion agency‚ Wesgro - wants to attract R1bn in new investments in the green economy.

"This goal received a major boost with the R10m cash injection from the UK-based Shoney Wind. The Shoney Venture Holdings deal will create 20 jobs".

"Local investors ploughed R35m into agri-processing jobs at RNT Snacks (R15m) and Montague Dried Fruits (R10m). These two deals will create 95 jobs‚" Winde said.

"There are several deals in the pipeline and Wesgro says it is working to close lucrative transactions over the next few months. The upper end of our goal is to secure R1.5bn worth of investment in priority sectors‚ which will help to create 1‚553 jobs‚" Winde said.

Source: Business Day via I-Net Bridge