Name of the Project
SIDS – Natural Dehydrated Foods (NDF) project.

Location
The project will be located in Mbombela, in Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Project Owner/s
The project is a collaboration between Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC SA) and Natural Dehydrated Foods, in which the WU Trust is a 100% shareholder.

Project Description
The NDF is a Sustainable Infrastructure Development System, or SIDS, project proposed by the South African government.

The project entails the construction of a factory for the local production of air-dried dehydrated vegetables, herbs and fruits that are used extensively in the production of a large number of processed food products for human and animal consumption.

The project includes:

• recapitalising up to 1 200 ha of underused agricultural land, the leasing of the farms from black economic-empowered communities and the cultivation of vegetables and herbs as feedstock;
• the construction of a dehydration processing plant with six dehydration lines; and
• the integration of a biomass plant.

Feedstock production is estimated at between 134 000 t/y to 140 000 t/y, with dried product estimated at between 18 300 t/y and 19 750 t/y.

Potential Job Creation
About 334 (annualised) jobs will be created during construction and 1 598 in the factory and agriculture sectors during operation.

Capital Expenditure
The project is estimated at R2.17-billion, excluding capitalised interest and value-added tax.

Planned Start/End Date
Pre-implementation is expected start in the third or fourth quarter of 2020, with implementation expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2020 or the first quarter of 2021. This depends on the project’s securing all funding.

Latest Developments
A bankable feasibility study is being conducted on the project.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
IDC SA, Retief Bruwer, cell +27 83 677 0149 or email retiefb@idc.co.za.
Natural Dehydrated Foods, Walter Unger, tel +43 699 1967 8912 or email wugmbh@chello.at.