The Coega industrial development zone (IDZ) has secured over R1.8-billion for the 2013/14 financial year from ten clients active in the manufacturing, logistics, chemicals, renewable-energy and automotive industries.

The ten investors were SAMRT, from the automotive industry, which invested R400-million; automotive company Qtec Moulding, which invested R23-million; procurement and food business Digistics South Africa, which pledged R20-million; logistics firm ID Logistics, which invested R35-million; chemicals company Afrox South Africa, which invested R300-million; the No. 1 Corporation, which pledged R40-million; ITPASA, which invested R30-million; Ulba Tantalum Africa, which invested R200-million; as well as energy firms Powerway and Sungrow, which, through a joint venture, invested R127-million.

Coega’s ascent over the past three years had been “beyond remarkable” given the mercurial investment climate, said Coega Development Corporation business development executive manager Christopher Mashigo, who had kept a steady hand on investment deals.

“About 60% of these investments will either [become operational] or will be commissioned in this calendar year. This means we are establishing a trend in the IDZ that new investors are signed in one year and are on the ground in the next, as is the case with some new IDZ investors such as DCD Wind Towers, Famous Brands and Air Products,” he noted.

Mashigo added that the diversity of the investments played into Coega’s strategy to attract a range of catalytic and turnkey investments that would enable future growth within the IDZ.

Supply chain integration was also already evident in the IDZ investments, he said, noting that agroprocessing had shown “a fantastic coming of age in the IDZ” and the integration with the port and back-of-port logistics was solidifying the port-IDZ-rural hinterland connection.

“Coega has carved a niche as a platform for the cold chain, linked particularly to perishables, while the port has the necessary infrastructure for their distribution with 1 682 refrigeration plug-in points – a convenience not found elsewhere in the country.

“The IDZ is becoming a springboard into the local and international retail sector and talks to why we actually have IDZs in the first place,” Mashigo said in a statement.