ETHEKWINI Municipality has revealed that it plans to support closed chemical companies with the aim of bringing them back to life so they can make a meaningful contribution to the economy of the city again.
Also read: 350 Sapref workers to lose jobs
Some of these closed companies include Sapref and Engen, which are both in the south of Durban. This came out of the recently held meeting of eThekwini’s Economic Development and Planning Committee, which requested a renewal of the memorandum of agreement between eThekwini and the Durban Chemical Cluster (DCC) for the implementation of the Chemical Industry Development Programme. This request was tabled at the most recent full eThekwini council sitting. The Economic Development and Planning Committee made a request for R9.57m to be released by eThekwini to the DCC over a three-year period and to be released in tranches.
According to the minutes of the Economic Development and Planning Committee meeting, the DCC will use the funds to implement the Chemical Industry Development Programme whose main aim is to act as a business accelerator, develop youth in the chemical industry, the development of black-owned suppliers in the industry and enterprise development support, with export-oriented programmes.
“The Durban Chemicals Cluster Programme has been specifically devised to stimulate economic growth in the chemical sector through investment and growth, operational excellence as well as skills development and transformation activities. Chemical manufacturing is a significant contributor to the city’s revenue. In just one month, manufacturing contributes 64% or R128.2 in electricity, 44% or R51.7m in water, and 12% or R39.1m in rates revenue,” read the minutes.
The DCC has 74-member companies, which include large employers like AECI, Mondi, and South African Breweries. The Economic Development and Planning Committee said endeavours are currently being made to support Sapref and Engen through the Durban Invest Unit, to ensure they recover.
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