The Province of KwaZulu-Natal has embarked on a range of industrial interventions to remedy
the lacklustre economic situation experienced since 2009 to kick-start economic growth.

This includes the Industrial Economic Hubs initiative. The industrialisation approach responds to adverse socio-economic conditions in the province. Fixed-capital formation is envisaged to go a long way in addressing challenges of economic development, unemployment, poverty and inequality. The approach also addresses spatial development in the province to ensure that the province as a whole and not only developed nodes benefit from economic interventions made.

The province’s industrialisation approach emphasises intervening on the production side of the provincial economy. The government is leaning against investment not consumption in its expenditure. This is in line with government’s overall role of facilitating, enabling, regulating and intervening. The approach will therefore provide economic opportunities for local development. The development of enterprise and local economies is one of government’s transversal activities and is a key contributor to gross domestic product.

Since their launch in November 2014, the industrial economic hubs have undergone a number of stages in line with the standard approach to the development of industrial parks as shown in the image on the top right. The consultation with stakeholders was done through the District Participation Forums. The process of land assembly is completed except for two districts. Land assembly and industrial infrastructure are pre-requisites to investment attraction in industrial park development, not the other way around. The key industrial economic hub sectors that were identified are leather processing, clothing and textile, renewable energy components, electronics, wood (furniture) processing, agri-processing and automotive.

The statistical update on each is shown on the table on the next page.

The development of industrial infrastructure is a key process that is expected to be undertaken by the public sector. Understandably, with the current weak economic environment, this process is slower than otherwise it would be under any other circumstance. It requires tighter collaboration between the various spheres of government, which is also a perquisite.

Similarly, the matter of industrial support measures or incentives has been flagged on a number of occasions by potential investors. The Department has developed a draft document and held a workshop on 29 March 2017 to deliberate on industrial support measures and incentives. These include administered prices for rental, rates , water and electricity as well as value-add services; research and development, training, loan funding, registration and trade facilitation. Consultation with municipalities, water and electricity authorities is on-going on this matter.

Click on below link to download Progress on KZN Industrial Economic Hubs: