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GOVT ANNOUNCES VEHICLE MANUFACTURING PROJECT

15/08/2020 23:55:00 BY MFANUKHONA NKAMBULE

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mfanukhona@times.co.sz

MBABANE – If projects announced by government in its Post COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan were to be implemented as planned, emaSwati could breathe a sigh of relief.

Dogged by high unemployment, inequality and HIV infections coupled with other stressful diseases like COVID-19, TB and diabetes, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is poised for a sharp increase.

Based on the recovery plan, jobs are on the cards.

For instance, government announced on Friday that the Eswatini Sugar Association (ESA) would undertake an Industrial Park project worth E500 million. This project, according to government, is expected to create 700 jobs.

Eswatini Sugar Association’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Phil Mnisi said the project would take off the ground even though it is currently at conceptualisation stage.

He said the association would embark on the project for the beneficiation of sugar. The ESA is an umbrella organisation bringing together all growers and millers of sugar cane.

Its highest policy-making body is the Council, where growers and millers have equal representation.

The day-to-day functions are run by the ESA office led by Dr Mnisi, with its head office located in Mbabane, Technical Services Department located at Simunye and Big Bend while there is also an ESA warehouse at Mlawula in the Lubombo Region.

E3bn project by RESCorp

On the other hand, the recovery plan includes a project expected to cost E3 billion to be undertaken by the Royal Eswatini Sugar Corporation (RESCorp).

This project is expected to create 1 200 jobs. Other massive projects on the pipeline include investments to be done in the market by a company styled Zeenat Industrial Park. Zeenat has promised investments of E295 million. The company will manufacture tissue paper, LED for local and export, manufacturing leather for industrial protective clothing and foam mattresses.

It is projected that Zeenat Industrial Park’s projects will create 350 jobs.

Another major one is the manufacturing of laptop components at the Royal Science and Technology Park (RSTP). The project cost stands at E1 billion. It would be undertaken through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) involving government and AeTrade Group.

The laptop project will take four years to complete. RSTP has already granted a lease. However, it is reported that a sovereign guarantee law is needed to back up the project.

The Hoefer Group is planning to manufacture recreational vehicles (caravans) for export purposes. The project will cost E200 million. It will create jobs for 500 people.

The proposed manufacturing and packaging of pharmaceuticals is a recognisable project as well. It is worth E100 million, and will be undertaken by Avapharm.

B&H Sugar (Pty) LTD, which currently operates in Nhlangano, will invest E50 million in a packaging and sugar distribution project. The company is expected to relocate to Matsapha on completion of a 5 000- square metre factory shell.

The Lubombo Industrial Park will embark on an E300 million pharmaceuticals, car assembly, soap power and ethanol enrichment plant.

Artemis Pharmaceutical will produce moringa capsules, a project that will cost E128 million. A steel and metal recycling plant will cost E50 million and create 40 jobs.

According to the recovery plan, Eswatini will be a private sector-led economy.

It is said that government commits itself to create a conducive business environment that will unlock all the bottlenecks that have prevented/ impeded the implementation of viable development projects with high returns on investment.

The strategy is to resuscitate the economy and address the anticipated contraction in GDP through a project based approach that will be driven by the private sector but supported and enabled by the government.

Through the Recovery Plan, government will empower the private sector to engage in high value and high impact projects that will increase the economic base by creating jobs and increasing economic activities that will grow the country’s GDP.

The plan is to stimulate the economy through “big projects” that can enable the private sector to expand and thrive beyond the current status quo. Government says it will also rollout the Recovery Plan through a “Marshall Plan” that will drive and monitor the implementation of the projects within an 18-month period. The Marshall Plan approach is necessary to integrate all the implementation of the projects into one pipeline of activity.

This is meant to ensure the necessary policy/legislative reforms are implemented for delivery of the Post COVID-19 Plan as a complete and successful package.

This package of “big projects” is aligned to the sectors of the economy identified as key growth sectors based on their ability to deliver high impact on GDP growth, job creation, and revenue mobilisation. The growth sectors as identified in the Eswatini Strategic Roadmap

2019-2022 include: Agriculture, Manufacturing and Agro-processing, Tourism, Mining & Energy, and ICT & Education.

Government said, to be a private sector-led economy, there should be fundamental economic reforms that the country ought to embrace.

“There needs to be a shift away from Government as the central driver of the economy,” reads the recovery plan.

Government said it needed to re-establish itself as the key enabler of growth across all sectors of the economy. In enabling the private sector, it said it would focus on creating a conducive business environment that would improve the country’s ranking on the Ease of Doing Business. Overall, a focus on “big projects” to be driven by the private sector will stimulate the necessary economic reforms to allow it (private sector) to lead and expand the economy for greater income generation and wealth creation, according to Government’s Post COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan.