Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) director-general Lionel October hopes that the department’s Industrial Parks Programme will develop into a national priority that serves as a catalyst for broader economic and industrial development in host regions.
Presenting to the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry in Parliament on Wednesday, October highlighted the importance of ensuring industrial parks get transformed into “economically viable entities that will promote economic inclusivity".
He updated the committee on the progress and milestones reached to date since the initiation of the revitalisation of the Industrial Parks Programme by the DTI in September 2015.
“We need to have national consensus on this programme, which provides the much-needed jobs in areas that have been overlooked in the recent past. We have forged strategic partnerships for the implementation of the revitalisation on a national scale,” said October.
He further mentioned that, of the ten identified industrial parks, six had already been approved for funding, two of which had completed Phase 1 of the revitalisation programme, which comprised the upgrading of security infrastructure and the erection of fencing and street lighting, including top structures and critical electricity requirements.
“We will continue till the year 2020 when we will complete Phase 4, which will produce sustainable industrial parks that are able to attract tenants and also uplift the lives of communities they are located in,” he concluded.