REGION The balance of the equity is held by Belgian concern, Umicore Group. The Coega IDZ outside Port Elizabeth has recently attracted massive investments from Chinese car manufacturers and has also attracted food and beverage manufacturers. The East London IDZ, located near the Mercedes-Benz SA factory, has an automotive focus.
Park (near Cradock) and the Garden Route Park, a marine reserve. The Eastern Cape Provincial Government is responsible for 21 nature reserves and is planning to commercialise the administration of many of these facilities. The province also intends to target the improvement of roads to remoter parts of the province such as Baviaanskloof, Hole-in-the-Wall, Dwesa-Cwebe and Coffee Bay.
Tourism
Economic future
The five-star Boardwalk Hotel and Casino (Sun International) is a new offering. The large meeting hall that can host up to 1 700 delegates attracted the Democratic Alliance for its elective conference in 2015. Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality has established a conference bureau to assist in conference booking and planning. Smaller venues are situated in the city, surrounding game reserves, seaside resorts or luxury hotels. The Feather Market Convention Centre is a successful adaptation of a Victorian building for modern use. It is used to host gala dinners, exhibitions, product launches and concerts. The Eastern Cape has some unique natural advantages as a tourist destination. For example, the province covers seven different biomes (communities of plants and animals coexisting in a particular place), of which the grassland, Nama Karoo, thicket and savanna biomes are the most extensive. The Eastern Cape has three areas of endemism: Albany, the Drakensberg and Pondoland. Port Elizabeth has become synonymous with the Iron Man event and various sporting events and festivals are a strong aspects of Eastern Cape tourism. The National Arts Festival in Grahamstown is a key national festival. The Addo Elephant National Park is the jewel in The Eastern Cape's crown. It is a 164 000-hectare facility that attracts more visitors than East Africa’s Serengeti National Park. Plans to expand Addo Park from the sea to the Karoo are well advanced, and ultimately the intention is for it to become a megapark. Other national parks in the province are the Camdeboo National Park (around Graaff-Reinet and now home to some lions), the Mountain Zebra SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2017
Renewable energy projects are flourishing throughout South Africa, and the Eastern Cape has become one of the hotspots for this burgeoning industry, particularly with regard to wind power. Of the 17 projects approved in the province in terms of the national independent producers' programme, fully 16 are on-shore wind projects with large numbers of turbines dotting the landscape around the Tsitsikamma and Jeffrey's Bay and further north near the town of Bedford. More than 1 500MW has so far been procured within the borders of the province, and there is potential for much more. Nationally, the programme has attracted about R200-billion in investment. The implementation of the Strategic Integrated Projects in the province is progressing well. The upgrades of the Mthatha Airport runway and apron are complete, with work nearing completion on the Mthatha Airport terminal building. The Mzimvubu Multipurpose Development Project is another development which comprises a multi-purpose dam to supply water for new irrigation development, hydropower generation and domestic water requirements in the Mzimvubu River Catchment.
114
Capital
Bhisho
Population
6 916 200 (2015)
Area
168 966km2
Premier
Phumulo Masualle (ANC)
Languages
Afrikaans, English, Xhosa