These investors include international stakeholders from the Britain, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with the rest being local companies from South Africa.
All these investors are investing in a variety of fabrication workshops for steel and other metals, equipment and marine repair facilities, oil lubricant and fuel plants, as well as specialised engineering services, the minister said.
According to Davies, the investors are targeting construction to start between March 2019 and March 2020.
“The investments signal a significant start of establishing new industrial value chains in and around the Port of Saldanha.
“The Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone is part of the Ministry’s Special Economic Zones Programme and is developing into a world-class offshore and maritime hub,” he said.
Having established most of the major land-based infrastructure and some of the marine infrastructure, the zone’s partnership with Transnet National Ports Authority has already started some of the design and commercial work for expanding the infrastructure offering, with additional port facilities.
Davies said the value proposition to the market also includes a free port model for optimal operational ease in a sector where logistics efficiency and certainty are as valuable as quality engineering services.