Roger Burrows, MEC for economic development and tourism, said in the provincial legislature last week that a study by the Dube Tradeport Company and its financial transaction adviser, PricewaterhouseCoopers, on the feasibility of the Dube Tradeport had shown the project was viable if implemented as a public-private partnership.

The tradeport, which will include the new King Shaka International Airport, will speed up the delivery of time-sensitive goods around the world.

It will be located at La Mercy, north of Durban.

Burrows said:

"The study, undertaken using ... international best practice, essentially shows the project is indeed feasible if implemented as a public-private partnership, as we have done for the Nkosi Luthuli Hospital, and as is being done for Coega and the Gautrain."

"We are very encouraged by the enormous support this project - the first of its kind in Africa - is receiving from local stakeholders, especially local producers of perishable goods and automotive component exports," he said.

The feasibility study tested three scenarios in terms of delivering best value for money for the government.

These included the immediate implementation of the full Dube Tradeport, which included building the King Shaka International Airport as well as the surrounding trade zone simultaneously.

The second was a phased approach in which the trade zone would be built first and the airport would be built three years later.  

The third scenario was to not build anything.

The economic cost:benefit analysis revealed that the first option would deliver the best benefit for the government and was the most attractive in terms of private-sector investment.

This option will deliver more than 21 000 direct construction jobs over three years. About 16 000 permanent jobs will be created by the project.

Burrows said:

"More important, though, is the fact that the relocation of the airport ... opens up a significant piece of prime land next to the port with many options for development."

The study has shown that the release of the existing airport land could stimulate the creation of a further 80 000 direct construction jobs, as well as an estimated 80 000 indirect jobs.

Burrows said the financial model for the implementation of the project was still to be finalised and the application for treasury approval would be submitted by February.

Master planning for the airport and trade zone had started and work on a black economic empowerment charter to guide the project was about to start.

It has been proposed that a cabinet task team comprised of the provincial ministers of economic development and tourism, transport, finance, works, agriculture and education be established, with a corresponding technical team of heads of departments, to guide this phase of the project.