A day to be remembered, as the Eastern Cape government took a decisive step towards furthering the creation of an enabling environment; for potential business opportunities to come into the Eastern Cape Province. Eastern Cape Premier, Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane presided over the official re-opening of the rail line at Port of East London recently, to be able to conduct commerce as well as make much-needed private sector driven investment into the provincial economy and infrastructure.
At the re-opening, premier mentioned, We are on record as having stated that, key to the success of attempts to grow the provincial slice of the national GDP, must be steadfast and unrelenting investment in our provincial infrastructure. Over the past 5 to 10 years, this province has intensified its infrastructure development focused-growth trajectory”.
This movement marks a giant leap towards the realisation of the Eastern Cape vision to strengthen its economy and bridge the gap in goods transportation. The re-opening of the Cookhouse-Blaney rail line by Transnet is a move in the right direction to transport, inter alia, agricultural goods and automotive parts. We are putting all the agricultural opportunities on board; we are looking at the transportation of wool and livestock between the Eastern part of the province down to Gqeberha etc. We believe that if we are able to integrate we will be able to address this challenge of viability of this route” Premier said.
The re-opening of the line is expected to positively impact the Eastern Cape Province by migrating freight from road to rail - and reduce impact on the province's road infrastructure. The line will also grow the manufacturing sector and create job opportunities.
Premier also mentioned that, Eastern Cape Province is open and ready to do business with the rest of South Africa, the SADC, and sub-Saharan regions, with the hope to leverage the naturally endowed characteristics of the Eastern Cape, such as the province s favorable climate and arable soil. Our human capital, the substantial manufacturing footprint that exists in the province, particularly in the automotive space. Significant potential in the development of agro processing and exporting, a growing meat exporting industry and overseas markets and a largely untapped oceans economy and tourism sector make offer even greater potential for the Eastern Cape” he said.
The Cookhouse-Blanley line will translate into an additional projected volume of 300 000 tons capacity of freight that can be moved per annum. This will also enable an easing of pressure in the movement of goods between the two metros by opening new channels. This line will also serve to link physically the two existing Special Economic Zones at IDZ in Eastern London and Coega in Gqeberha.
It is expected that the Cookhouse-Blanley line will halve the movement of goods between the two cities, down from 1045 km along the current route of 30 hours to 440 km and 15 hours travel time. This will in no doubt bode well for business planning and operations and the movement of goods in our province” premier alluded.
