R100m investment target

IN its efforts to position Nelson Mandela Bay as a destination of choice for investors and tourists, the municipality plans to lure R100-million worth of new investments to the city by June.

It also intends to get R1.5-million worth of new export contracts facilitated for businesses in the metro in the 2014-15 financial year and train 500 emerging entrepreneurs.

This would bring a much-needed boost to the city's economy, which has been on a steady decline over the past eight years due to a dramatic drop in the number of business plans submitted to the metro.

According to the municipality's draft Integrated Development Plan (IDP), which is expected to be adopted by the council today before it goes out for public participation, there were 12225 business plans submitted to the municipality in the 2006-07 financial year. - Rochelle de Kock