Reasons To Be Optimistic About KZN
Category From the Director's Desk
For me the glass is always half-full and instead of focusing on the grey clouds I generally like to look for the silver lining in any situation (Two clichés are better than one). And having not milked those clichés enough yet, there is no question that KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) has had some seriously grey clouds the past few years, which managed to turn even the most battle-hardened business owner, or farmer, or resident into a nervous wreck. But one thing is certain about South Africans - we're resilient. We've been through many challenging times in the past and always seem to come out alright.
Below are a few reasons that I remain optimistic about living, working and investing in our (mostly) wonderful province:
Public infrastructure
SANRAL are making big investments in upgrading the N3 and N2 around KZN. These are both very important trade routes and the upgrades will benefit the province hugely, even more so considering the troubles with Transnet's rail network. I maintain that the roads around greater Durban (national and provincial roads) far exceed those of Johannesburg or Cape Town and will continue to do so for decades to come.
Durban's port has been instrumental in the growth of South Africa over the past century, however it has deteriorated over many years of mismanagement by Transnet, to now be ranked 341 out of 348 ports globally. That is of course not great news, but there is hope with the recent announcement that Transnet will enter into a joint venture with International Container Terminal Services (ICTS), who are one of the biggest container terminal operators in the world and will manage Durban Port Pier 2 for a period of 25 years. It is believed that ICTS will improve efficiencies and container volumes at pier 2 considerably and I hope these improved efficiencies spill over into other areas of Transnet and the regional economy. This will also be a good case study for a public private partnership in South Africa while many of our government led organisations are failing.
Metrorail KZN has resumed services on many of their routes that were badly damaged from the 2021 floods in KZN as well as recently introducing their new Electric Motor Units (more commonly called the Blue Trains). This shows good investment in the right areas and the ability to rebuild after the devastating floods.
Note: There is still massive room for improvement in other areas of public infrastructure and service delivery (water and sanitation, electricity, refuse removal, education, health and others)
Private investment
Private investors continue to invest heavily into the province, showing a high level of confidence. Below is a list of some major projects currently underway, about to start or recently completed:
- Westown - A large mixed-use development in Shongweni. Ground has recently been broken for Westown Square shopping centre.
- Northfields - A recently completed logistics park in the Riverhorse Valley precinct. Businesses in this park include Takealot, Rhenus, Bidvest, Massmart, Goscor, and Famous Brand
- The Brickworks - A business and logistics park in Glen Anil that has recently welcomed its first business, the Super Group, with more development to follow for Takealot, Food Lovers Market and others.
- North Point - Ballito's premier business park features 58 serviced platforms totalling 380 00m². The platforms are ready and many businesses have already secured their sites with construction to commence, including Shiptech, Alpla (Global packaging company) and others. North Point will service the rapidly growing northern corridor.
- Club Med - It has been announced that the first resort in South Africa for this well-loved global hospitality company is to be located at Tinley Manor, on the KZN North Coast.
- Dube Trade Port - Situated next to the King Shaka International Airport, the Dube Trade Port is a Special Economic Zone offering globally integrated logistics and manufacturing infrastructure and support for a range of airport-related activities, including cargo operations, warehousing, agricultural growing, processing and cold storage.
- Babanango Game Reserve - Situated in Zululand, the 20 000-hectare game reserve has undergone a 5-year rewilding program and has carefully introduced over 2 400 endemic animals since 2019, including the Big 5.
- Cato Ridge Inland Port - the decentralized port plans to alleviate congestion in the Durban Port and anticipates welcoming Maersk as one of it's first business partners.
- Renishaw Hills - An eco-friendly, residential retirement estate on the South Coast near Scottburgh. Over 200 homes already sold and showing great promise for the potential down south.
- North Coast residential developments - Zululami and Seaton (Collins Residential), Elaleni, Zimbali Lakes, Springvale, Ballito Hills and Izinga Eco Estate (Baldwin), Salta and Gold Coast (Devemco) and others.
- Clairwood Logistics Park - The nearly complete logistics and warehousing park in Durban's southern basin.
- Heineken Bottling Plant - the worlds second largest brewer is in advanced planning for a massive bottling plant in KZN.
- Giba Business Estate - nearly 200 000m² of platformed stands for light manufacturing and warehousing, situated on the western corridor.
The above projects each bring hundreds of millions, if not billions of investment value into the province and stimulate many areas of the economy.
Politics
The political landscape in KZN is becoming increasingly competitive, which I believe will result in improved service delivery and accountability in certain areas over time. The IFP and the DA have recently signed a historic service delivery pact in KZN, which if it works, will gain strong interest from the public. Additionally, ActionSA and the EFF are both gaining support in the province. All of this will keep the pressure on the ruling party.
If you speak to most uMngeni municipality residents you will hear about the quick turnaround in service delivery, after voting out of power their long standing local government and replacing them with a group of leaders focused on their serving their citizens.
Hang in there, avoid all of the negative media, cast your vote and we'll get through this rough patch alright.
Author: Maxprop