South Africa’s Free Zone Sector Eyes 56-Hectare Dube TradePort Expansion

FTZ News: Dube TradePort is lining up Phase 3 of its TradeZone. The KwaZulu-Natal operator wants 56 hectares of light industrial land brought to the point where a manufacturer can pour a slab.

The account follows Keabetswe Shilakwe’s Sept. 18 report in Engineering News, built on remarks by Andile Mnguni, senior manager for commercial property at Dube TradePort Corporation. The provincial entity runs the special economic zone next to King Shaka International Airport and the Dube Cargo Terminal, on the corridor between Durban and Richards Bay. Town-planning work is in the SPLUMA process. Mnguni said enabling works should start in 12 to 18 months and run about 24 months, if approvals hold and the tenant pipeline does not thin out. Procurement for that infrastructure is meant to begin this year.

The zone is selling location and utilities more than a new tax law. Mnguni pointed to one of the larger rooftop solar arrays in the area and to a reservoir planned to hold three days of water if the municipal supply fails. After five years of hard weather in KwaZulu-Natal the operator has been thickening flood works and stormwater drains. More than 260 hectares are down for wetland repair and native planting. Those are the figures in the interview. No rand total for Phase 3 was published. No job target for the 56 hectares was published.

Investors, he said, get bulk-service drawings and engineering reports with the application. A design review panel is supposed to keep municipal filings from sitting. Construction that has already gone up at the zone used local contractors and local labor, according to Mnguni. Component-sourcing pledges are written into investment conditions and tracked against the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition’s sector targets. Employment numbers go to provincial and national government every quarter. The models behind those numbers were not shown.

Phase 3 is a land play in a tight industrial market. Fifty-six hectares is a sizable parcel next to an airport cargo shed. It is still only land until the first factory is activated. The 12-to-18-month start and the 24-month build are Mnguni’s calendar, and he tied both to approvals and to demand that has not yet been listed by company name. Three days of stored water and a solar roof address two reasons firms leave KwaZulu-Natal parks. They do not settle the question of whether the 56 hectares fill before the next flood season, or sit as serviced veld with a SEZ sign on the gate./.