Minister Patel Launches Aberdare’s R135 Million in Port Elizabeth |
| The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Ebrahim Patel, has launched Aberdare Cables R135 million High Voltage Power Cables Plant in Port Elizabeth. Prior to this, there has only been two high-voltage power plants in the continent: one in Egypt and the other in Gauteng.
Minister Patel said the choice of Port Elizabeth underlined the role that manufacturing continues to play in the country and Eastern Cape economy. The new high-voltage is located in a new part of the factory complex. This expansion will give an opportunity for additional jobs. Patel added that Aberdare Cables parent company: Hengtong, a major Chinese cable manufacturing company, had a much more ambitious investment plan of about R1 billion that it wanted to invest to modernise and strengthen its operations in South Africa, including that of building of a fibre optic plant. “The Investment was made possible by Government’s decision designate power cables as a product that all government agencies must buy locally. To date, there has been one company producing high-voltage cables locally and the opening of the new plant will introduce competition in the market. It provides the industrial capacity as we ready for the African Continental Free Trade Area” said Patel. “The new department which will be named the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition will pursue six core objectives: support expansion of industrial production in South Africa, open up new markets for local products in other export markets, increase the levels of investment, address economic inclusion and transformation, ensure equitable spatial economic development across the entirety of the country and build a capable state,” he said.
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