manufacturing and world class services culture. SEZ, if adequately used, can be instruments of structural economic transformation. Yesterday I raised a question over the odd capital intensity of Africa’s zones. That capital intensity is a clear indicator of the region’s lack of comparative advantage in the types of activities that pulled most of Asia and part of Latin America out of poverty and rent-based economies. This capital intensity tells me that zones in Africa have not acted as they should. They are not agents of structural change. Rather, they serve niche markets, regional and international. As such, they simply cannot provide the foundation for sustainable continental growth. We must take the opportunity given to us, as zones are embraced, to ensure that they fulfil their potential. The topic of my presentation may appear disconnected from this imperative. Far from it! Planning and managing the SEZ feasibility process is a vital part in the establishment of a zone programme. It should act as the crucible through which a successful is prepared, cooked and presented to the market. For, we must never forget, zones are commercial products offered to buyers who have ample choice. No one has to buy that product if it does not provide value. My work for today has been made easy by the IFC’s excellent work in drafting the Practitioner’s Toolkit, a very comprehensive didactic product which will provide a normative framework on which we can base our work. Having had the privilege to study and use the Toolkit, I wish to congratulate Gokhan, his collaborators and some of my eminent colleagues from Deloitte and elsewhere for this excellent of contributions to our field. The Toolkit, in my mind, is a foundation around which more products dedicated to improving in planning and managing of zones establishment should be built. Core definitions SEZ programme: the decisions, strategy formulations, feasibility processes, and legislative and administrative acts that form part of the policy to develop a zone regime and establish one or several special economic zones, and the operation of that programme through the development and operational life of zones. An SEZ programme is multi-generational, spanning decades. SEZ project: the activities that are undertaken – including strategy, planning, partnering, funding, establishment of legal entities, signing of MOUs, agreements and contracts, securing of land and associated titles, construction, commissioning, marketing, selling or leasing of land – in order to develop an SEZ up to its operational start.
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