Nearing the close of the year the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) is a hive of activity with two construction projects aiding employment to more than 750 people.
“Whilst most institutions are winding down for the year‚ we continue earnestly building South Africa’s economy through job creation‚” said Dr Ayanda Vilakazi‚ CDC Unit head marketing and communications.
The CDC is currently constructing two key projects in zone 3 of the Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) near Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape‚ namely the Coega Dairy and Cheese expansion worth R25 million and the Multi-user facility worth R86 million.
The Coega Cheese project consists of the expansion of the cheese product line‚ while the Coega Dairy facility will also install a new warehouse and office block. Progress on construction of the facilities is currently at 98% with completion envisioned to be before year end 2015.
“Besides the fact that investor confidence is high in the IDZ‚ what makes us even more excited is the over 650 jobs the project is producing‚” said Duncan Grenfell‚ CDC head of recruitment and placement.
The second project also currently under construction is the 7‚800m2 Multi user facility in zone 3 of the Coega IDZ. The facility is located on seven hectares of land. Once completed it will comprise of smaller units ranging between 350m2 and 1‚500m2 under one roof with shared communal infrastructure.
“We recently signed our first investor - River Edge Trading (R10 million investment)‚ who’ll be moving into the premises as soon as construction is completed. There’s been great interest from several potential investors looking at locating into the facility‚” said Dr Keith du Plessis‚ CDC agro-processing business development manager.
So far‚ the multi user facility has seen over 103 people employed with construction likely to carry on into the new-year. Completion of the project is earmarked for mid-2016.