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indwe magazine – May 2005
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EKURHULENI
The City of Opportunity |
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Text: Dana Lee
Image: © South African Tourism |
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| The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Area, formerly known as the East Rand, consists of the following towns: Alberton, Edenvale, Springs, Nigel, Boksburg, Kempton Park, Tembisa, Brakpan, Benoni and Germiston. Ekurhuleni is home to Johannesburg International Airport, which is the busiest airport in Africa. The area also boasts over 300 bird species, at home in the tranquility of the wetlands and nature reserves. Ekurhuleni is not only a premier tourist destination. There are countless investment opportunities in the municipality, across the spectrum of economic activity – mining, manufacturing, agriculture, finance, housing and infrastructure. The municipality is well aware of the vital role that new investment plays in the economic growth of the city and are eager to assist the potential investor. Assistance includes support in identifying investment opportunities, in finding financing, and in relocation – housing, education, property acquisition, registering a business, and so on. Ekurhuleni’s investment priorities are driven by the overarching vision for economic growth and development for the city, which includes job creation, skills development and reduction of poverty. In this context, the Ekurhuleni administration has developed five major thrusts for economic growth and seeks, as a top priority, to attract investment into these areas, which are manufacturing, agriculture, unlocking the value of land, upgrading economic infrastructure, and skills development. Ekurhuleni’s manufacturing sector accounts for more than a quarter of GGP and is the logical base upon which to build. Investment is sought for the manufacture of plastics and mining capital equipment and for metal fabrication. The manufacture of metal products, along with machinery and equipment manufacturing, accounts for 29% of manufacturing production and 33% of employment in Ekurhuleni. Investors will benefit from the existence of operational foundries and the fact that the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is relocating its national casting technology centre to Boksburg. More than a third of all South African machinery production takes place in Ekurhuleni. Auto parts and components, a rapidly growing sub-sector with excellent export potential, should be a natural extension of Ekurhuleni’s metal fabrication and machine manufacturing industry. Plastics manufacturing, already a mature industry, is one of the most labour-intensive sub-sectors. Most rubber production in Ekurhuleni is sold to the car manufacturing industry. In support of investment in manufacturing, Ekurhuleni plans to develop clusters by industry, step up skills development, establish sector and technology support centres and facilitate exports. Because Ekurhuleni is one of the most densely populated areas in South Africa, land for agricultural use is limited. However, the land available is high yielding and attractive opportunities in the agriculture sector do exist. For one thing, Ekurhuleni is a premier location for shipping – by road, rail or air. Location, location, location! In support of agriculture and agro-processing, Ekurhuleni aims to help develop access to land for farming, to further ensure adequate water resources for irrigation, to step up training for small-scale farmers and to facilitate finance and marketing. Mine dumps and landfills are substantial economic assets waiting to be exploited and there are major environmental advantages in doing so. As the value of gold has climbed over the past few years, cleaning up the mine dumps of Ekurhuleni becomes a more attractive economic endeavour. New streams of income are created while removing eyesores from the landscape. New jobs are created. Similarly, landfills are the source of vast quantities of methane gas. Exploiting this resource can provide new energy resources at the same time as it reduces the air pollution caused by the methane gas released into the atmosphere by the landfills. Under the Kyoto agreement, credits can be earned for reducing pollution and then banked and sold to industries unable to meet their individual pollution reduction requirements. As part of the overall economic development plan, Ekurhuleni wants to develop trading and training centres, encourage urban renewal and regulate the informal sector. Opportunities exist in the development of housing estates, social (rental) housing, improved services delivery, roads and street maintenance and repair, and the establishment of produce and craft markets. One of the most devilish legacies of apartheid is a work force that is under-educated, which has left South Africa with a shortage of skilled workers, an abundance of unskilled workers and an unacceptably high level of unemployment. Thus, skills development is one of the highest priorities of government at all levels. The Ekurhuleni West College already offers a wide range of learning and skills development programmes at various levels. The main objective of EWC is to become more responsive to the needs of the community as well as Commerce and industry and to prepare learners for the world of work. The municipality further intends to promote development along the R21 corridor (one of the major highways that intersect Ekurhuleni) and to place special emphasis on the development of international call centres. International call centres have mushroomed around the world as one of the most promising and lucrative outsourcing industries. India is the world leader in this field but South Africa has been pretty fast out of the blocks as well. South Africa’s call centre industry is larger than those of most of the EU countries and already employs nearly 100 000 people. Gauteng dominates with more than 60% of the 400 South African call centres located in this province. Some 25% of those operate in the financial services sector. There are several reasons why South Africa can claim a comparative advantage in this industry. The first is cost. South African call centres typically cost 30% less to operate than in the US or UK. Secondly, South Africa has state-of-the-art communications technology. And, thirdly, South Africa has a multilingual population whose excellent pronunciation of English is well recognised. The industry is growing rapidly worldwide and South Africa is poised to take advantage of the boom. Ekurhuleni has all the ingredients required for establishing top quality call centres. Promoting investment in call centres will be one of the municipality’s top priorities, which fits the overall strategy to make Gauteng one of the premier call centre locations in the world. Ekurhuleni – truly the city of opportunity. |