Construction is well under way at the Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone (IDZ)‚ which is set to position the Western Cape as a rig repair hub‚ and non-disclosure agreements have been signed with 20 local and international investors.

Alan Winde‚ provincial minister of economic opportunities‚ said on Thursday that enabling oil and gas servicing at Saldanha was central to Project Khulisa’s drive to grow the sector.

Project Khulisa is a programme initiated by the Western Cape government to identify the economic sectors that will provide the greatest growth and job creation over the next five years.

“Focusing specifically on upstream and midstream services such as rig repair‚ this sector already provides 35 000 formal jobs opportunities in the province.

“Through Project Khulisa‚ we have the aspirational goal of adding up to a further 60 000 formal jobs in this sector and increasing its economic contribution up to R3-billion‚ from its current R1-billion.”

Winde said he had requested an update report from the Saldanha Bay Licensing Company on the progress of construction at the IDZ.

“Excavations for the various civil engineering services are taking place and trenches for sewer and water lines are being hollowed out. The roads are being box cut and the site offices‚ which will be a multi-user facility for contractors and trainers‚ is set to be completed soon.

“Transnet National Ports Authority has also started construction on its offshore supply base‚ which is expected to be commissioned in September next year.”

“We are also seeing healthy interest from the private sector. To date‚ nondisclosure agreements have been signed with 20 local and international investors‚” he said.

The activity at the IDZ is a result of partnerships between the Western Cape government‚ the local municipality‚ Transnet and the National Department of Trade and Industry.

According to the South African Gas & Oil Alliance‚ the Saldanha Bay IDZ is South Africa’s first dedicated development in the oil and gas services and marine repair sector to support upstream exploration and production developments in the West and East African regions‚ and potentially the South African market in the near future