2 February 2007

Port Elizabeth's Coega Industrial Development Zone will soon be home to a purpose-built multimillion-rand Cerebos salt crystallisation plant, with construction scheduled to begin this month.

The R54 million project, approved by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), is expected to create employment in the Eastern Cape. The province has been identified as a DBSA priority, in dire need of infrastructure development and job creation.

At least 100 jobs are expected to be created during construction of the plant, and 140 when salt-producing operations begin.

Cerebos's R85-million relocation and expansion into the Coega IDZ was announced last year. The new plant is scheduled for completion in September 2007.

According to Vuyelwa Qinga-Vika, spokesperson for the Coega Development Corporation (CDC), the new plant is expected to significantly boost Cerebos's output capacity, enabling it to meet the ever-increasing demand for pure vacuum-dried (PVD) salt.

"CDC is expected to issue further tenders for factory construction on 1 000 hectares in Zone 7 within the next month," Qinga-Vika said.

She added that the initiative aims to position South Africa as a platform for global manufacturing and export through foreign and local investment.

"The Cerebos factory, which would use new technologies and create new export markets, would be ideally located on the IDZ and would generate significant local employment opportunities."

Although basic infrastructure such as roads, bulk electricity and water connections had yet to be constructed, the tenders for municipal infrastructure were issued in the last quarter of 2006.

The high-tech plant will produce high-quality salt in an environment-friendly manner, using technology never before seen in sub-Saharan Africa.

"Local demand for PVD salt exceeded our supply so we had to turn some customers down, but all that will be history when plant is operational," said Cerebos managing director Len Chandler.

Other investors at the CDC include Straits Chemicals and a shrimp processing facility, Sea Ark.

Source: BuaNews