The City of Durban will spend R11-billion, as it pursues its endeavor to become THE Automotive Hub on the continent.
The eThekwini Metro will construct a multi-billion rand Durban Automotive Supplier Park (DASP) and the project is expected to start this year.
It is envisaged that the project will help create 2500 jobs during the construction phase, which will be followed by 6000 permanent jobs once the project has been completed.
That is according to the municipality’s Head of Development Planning, Environment and Management Musa Mbhele.
The land (in Illovo) which will be dedicated towards the project has already been procured, and is ready for the three-phased development.
The stakeholders already on board at this juncture are the eThekwini Municipality, Toyota and the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government – through the Dube Tradeport. The plan is simply to attract component manufacturing and car assembly firms to the city.
“It is going to centralise production, assembly, sequencing and warehousing facilities that are within close proximity to the original equipment manufacturers, such as Toyota and any other new entrants,” said Mbhele on Thursday.
“This is a very exciting part for future generation because Toyota has advanced in developing the suitable programmes and have already linked with the best internationally recognised universities to ensure better quality of education,” added Mbhele.
“We are faced with a high unemployment rate and our responsibility is to invest in sectors that make a significant contribution to employment directly and indirectly. As it stands, the Durban Automotive Cluster which is funded by the Municipality represents 39 firm members and collectively employs approximately 17 000 people,” explained Mbhele.