RICHARDS Bay’s electricity shortages, water challenges and obstructive government policies are stunting Zululand’s economic growth.
This was the message of local business leaders addressing Transnet Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tau Morwe and his Executive Committee at an open ‘business to business’ forum held in Richards Bay on Monday.
The state-owned transport and logistics group established ‘B2B’ networking sessions across the country to work towards a mutually beneficial future for all parties.
‘Our vision through the Transnet Market Demand Strategy is to boost economic growth, build necessary skills and increase job creation,’ said Morwe.
‘Ports must be synonymous with Industrial Development Zones (DZs) and continue to look at the type of capacity that will be required by big businesses such as RBCT (Richards Bay Coal Terminal), RBM (Richards Bay Minerals) and Foskor.
‘But this must all be translated into numbers in order for us to get one step closer to realising a shared vision.’
Power downer
Business representatives, however, responded with more pressing concerns.
QS2000 Quantity Surveyor and Project Manager Frans van der Walt pointed out that the country has seen little foreign investment owing to too much red tape and unreliable power supply.
‘New Zealand – an island – has seen the same level of foreign investment as South Africa, and Mozambique has had eight times more.
‘The problem is, it takes investments five years to materialise here versus three years overseas, so investors would rather take their business elsewhere.
‘This is on top of electricity shortages and water challenges.
‘If you kill the chicken, you simply can’t expect any eggs to hatch,’ Van der Walt said.
RBCT CEO Nosipho Siwisa-Damasane added that big businesses in Richards Bay ‘are facing huge risks’ because of the power outages.
‘We need to determine how companies can overcome this dilemma. We can’t just focus on what we want, but how to tackle these problems now.’
Morwe said the topics raised are national concerns.
‘Together, we need to engage with national government and see how we can do things differently as far as electricity goes.
‘But we also need to continue our consultations so that next time we meet, we can see the results from today’s networking.
‘If we don’t come together now to put a coherent, integrated plan in place, our children’s children will still be sitting here discussing the same issues,’ said Morwe.
