A R250-million new fibre-optic cable manufacturing plant at Dube TradePort, north of Durban, would be fully operational by January 2017, proving that much-needed industrial development could be fast-tracked, government officials said at a recent sod-turning event at the construction.

The investment by State-owned Chinese investor Yangtze Optical Fibre & Cable (YOFC) was first announced in December and would entail an investment of R100-million in building the facility and R150-million in equipment.

Department of Trade and Industry Investment South Africa division acting deputy director-general Yunus Hoosen said it would take six months to complete the 150 000 m2 facility, which would create 150 jobs.

He added that the creation of Yangtze Optics Africa Cable (YOAC), a joint venture between YOFC and its empowerment partner, Mustek, was in line with government initiatives to focus on value addition, deepen supply chains, empower black industrialists and support investments through the creation of special economic zones such as the Dube TradePort.

This would create industry clusters that would have “a great multiplier effect”.

Hoosen explained that government was supporting investments such as this through tax and training allowances.

The YOAC investment included a four-year skills development programme, with selected employees to be trained both locally and in China. Recruitment and training of key technical staff would start in September.

KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs Michael Mabuyakhulu welcomedthe decision by YOAC to establish a manufacturing plant at Dube TradePort.

“As the global leader in the manufacture and supply of telecoms optical fibre, YOFC is in a good position to strengthen its African footprint by being located here, thereby also helping to spawn a local microcosm of ancillary industries, from suppliers and service providers to distributors,” he said.

He said that the new, cutting-edge fibre-optic cable manufacturing and distribution facility demonstrated the provincial government’s commitment to attracting new investments that developed KwaZulu-Natal’s economic prospects and created more opportunities for job creation through major catalytic projects.

To date, Dube TradePort had attracted about R1.4-billion in private investment.

“The great potential for this project to expand is also very exciting for our province and country.Currently, the demand for fibre optics in the world is 450-million fibre kilometres of cable a year. The demand within the Southern African Development Community market is currently 1.2-million fibre kilometres. This facility will produce one-million fibre kilometres of this demand,” he noted.

He pointed out that the information technology sector offered considerable economic growth opportunities, with statistics demonstrating that, for every 10% increase in access to good communication infrastructure and services, there could be an increase in economic growth of as much as 1.4%.

YOAC CEO Pieter Viljoen explained that a comprehensive range of new-generation fibre-optic cable products would be manufactured locally for the South African and key export markets in Africa.

He said that, with an envisaged manufacturing capacity of more than one-million fibre kilometres, YOAC would play a significant role in enabling the expansion of broadband in South Africa.