Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis is calling for the privatisation of the Port of Cape Town to boost job creation and economic growth.<\/p>\n
“The efficiency of a country\u2019s ports can either be one of the biggest enablers or the biggest impediments to growth, job creation and the wellbeing of its citizens,” Hill-Lewis said.<\/p>\n
“South Africa\u2019s ports \u2013 including this historic one across the road here \u2013 are languishing way down at the wrong end of the global ports efficiency rankings. For a country with our agricultural and mining output, that kind of bottleneck is devastating. And it is mostly self-inflicted by a state-owned entity (Transnet).”<\/p>\n
“The solution to our ports challenge is not more state, but rather less state and more private sector investment. It most certainly does not call for yet another state-owned entity, as has been proposed in the draft South African Shipping Bill. A state-owned shipping company is not the answer to our port\u2019s problems”<\/p>\n
According to the Western Cape’s Department of Economic Development and Tourism, a privatised port can potentially increase exports by an additional R6 billion, create 20,000 direct and indirect jobs, and generate R1.6 billion in additional taxes over five years.<\/p>\n
“For a country that relies so heavily on trade and exports, it is critical that we are able to move our produce through our ports as smoothly and quickly as possible.<\/p>\n
“If you want to improve efficiencies in any aspect of the South African state \u2013 whether it\u2019s the electricity grid, the postal service or the ports \u2013 you have to turn to public-private partnerships,” Hill-Lewis added.<\/p>\n
“It should be clear to all that state-owned entities in South Africa are the kiss of death<\/strong>. Eskom is the obvious example, but you can add to this Transnet, Prasa, SAA, Denel, the Post Office and many more.”<\/p>\n He added that the private sector participation at the container ports of Durban and Nqura, as well as the 25-year Special Purpose Vehicles between Transnet Port Terminals and experienced international terminal operators, will drive infrastructure investment and improve efficiencies at these ports.<\/p>\n “There is no reason why Cape Town\u2019s port should not be included in this critical drive to modernise through private sector investment, said Hill-Lewis.<\/p>\n “Just imagine what could be possible, in terms of trade and exports, if we could unblock the bottleneck of an inefficient port.”<\/p>\n
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