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Cape Town - The Coega Development Corporation (CDC), has signed the biggest automotive investment deal in Africa in the last 40 years.
The R11bn investment is with the Beijing Automobile International Corporation (BAIC) for a completely knocked down (CKD) automotive manufacturing plant in the Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ).
The BAIC investment is an outcome of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) that was held in Johannesburg in December 2015, where President Jacob Zuma and Chinese Prime Minister Xi Jinping signed no less than 26 bilateral agreements valued at approximately R100bn.
Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies said the investment is significant and deepens the country’s economic relationship with China.
“The size of this investment demonstrates confidence by China and confidence in South Africa as an investment destination,” he said.
He said that the project positions the Eastern Cape as an automotive hub and has the potential of deepening the component supply chain, job creation and economic development.
The CDC IDZ has in the last 4 years attracted and signed 54 new investors with a combined investment value of R31.93bn.
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