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R4.5bn plant investment signed in Richards Bay

Richards Bay – KwaZulu-Natal premier Willies Mchunu believes the R4.5bn investment into the titanium dioxide pigment production plant in Richards Bay is important, given fears of a recession resulting from the downgrade of the country’s economy to junk status.

KZN MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs Sihle Zikalala on Tuesday presided over the signing ceremony by the plant’s strategic partners, which was attended by diplomats from New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Germany.

The partnership involves the Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone and Nyanza Light Metals and Avertana, a New Zealand-based company.

Mchunu said the partnership will boost business confidence and help attract more investment into the province. 

“We acknowledge that we are not the only nation in the world that has had to adjust to the harshness of the impact of recession and other global economic challenges such as downgrading by rating agencies,” said Mchunu, adding that the investment will help create more jobs.

Zikalala said the plant will produce titanium dioxide pigment, a product used in paint, toothpaste and colourants for food products.

The construction of the plant will commence next year, while production is expected to begin in late 2019, said Zikalala.

About 550 permanent jobs will be created when the plant is operational and 1 200 indirect and 800 direct jobs will be created during construction, added Zikalala.

“Over the next few months we will be working towards finalising investments of more than R4.1bn emanating from different sectors of our key focus. From these we expect 868 permanent jobs and 1 260 jobs during the construction.”

Zikalala said he supports the call by President Jacob Zuma and Mchunu that government should ensure that all sections of society benefit from the nation’s wealth, to guarantee a stable democracy and reasonable wealth distribution.

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