The South African Minister of Public Works hosted the first day of his department’s two-day Operation Phakisa Oceans Economy summit in East London on Wednesday.
The event is intended to attract investment to unlock further economic opportunities in coastal areas.
Minister Thulas Nxesi said his department and the National Treasury had developed a New Letting Out Framework for state-owned small harbours and coastal properties.
“We have mentioned Port St. Johns and Gonubie in the Eastern Cape which are the major ones, but there is a list of these harbours situated in different municipalities that will be brought on board,” said Nxesi.
Nxesi pointed out that the summit would also provide the Eastern Cape and other coastal municipalities with a platform to showcase their properties to potential investors to allow for a submission of expression of interests.
He emphasised that they needed to sort out issues of infrastructure before the development of harbours.
“Once we talk about tourism and issues of infrastructure, it’s short term and that could be just within a year, but after that we talk medium term where there must be a lot of exploration where we speak to big companies to come and develop that particular harbour,” added Nxesi.
