Leonard Neill
INVESTMENT INCENTIVES for manufacturers and exporters involving amounts greater than R100 million are under consideration by the South African government, and details will be announced following cabinet level discussions.
Currently the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) investment incentive scheme is pegged at R100 million with the main objective to encourage its SMMED (small and medium enterprise development) plan. But this is about to change says Louis Smuts, deputy director of DTI's Enterprise Organisation.
Addressing a breakfast gathering organised by GEDA (Gauteng Economic Development Agency) at Kyalami last week, he said that projects which would allow both local and foreign investors to enjoy investment incentive schemes greater than the current maximum, were awaiting approval.
At the same time he stated that with the announcement of what he described as the new 'six-pack' scheme set in motion in September last year, business enterprises in Gauteng, which had previously been excluded from incentive schemes, could now qualify on an equal footing with the rest of the country.
The six point plan includes SMMED, strategic projects investments, skills support programmes, critical infrastructure projects, IDZ projects and foreign investment grants.
It is the sectors governing strategic project investments and foreign investment grants which are under consideration at cabinet level and where the possibility for investments above the R100 million level are to be considered.
In skills support training, up to 50% of the costs, limited to 30% of the company's wage bill, fall within the concepts of the plan and are applicable to training of local staff both here and overseas.
We require applications from viable, sustainable businesses who need assistance for the first three years of their development programme, said Smuts. Every application is dealt with on its merits and very few are rejected.
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