KwaZulu-Natal Premier Willies Mchunu has emphasised the need to ensure that all spheres of government work together to sustain a positive economic trajectory.

He was speaking ahead of the provincial executive council Lekgotla scheduled to take place tomorrow at Public Works Conference Centre in Mayville, Durban.

He pointed out: “The co-ordination of the work of all spheres of government will ensure that we speed up the roll-out of billions of infrastructure for the benefit of our people throughout the corners of our province.”

“We have a budget of about R12 billion for key infrastructure projects. We want to ensure job creation through the construction of road infrastructure and ensuring access to basic amenities such as water and sanitation, electricity, recreational facilities and social infrastructure such schools and decent clinics and hospitals, for millions of our people in townships and remote rural areas.”

“In our discussions we will put a greater emphasis on the coordination and integration of all programmes of service delivery in order to make an impact. Importantly, I want to assure those who voted us into office that we will ensure that the state resources are not diverted for other purposes.

“It is for these reasons that items in our agenda are focusing on issues of good governance. Good governance is about being exemplary and it’s about adhering to the highest ethical conduct.”

According to Mchunu, the council undertook to focus on fast-tracking private sector investment projects worth billions. Here are some of the projects in the pipeline:

• Vossloh Project – a French company is looking into setting up a manufacturing facility in KwaDukuza. They are currently exporting rail fasteners to South Africa and supplying Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) and Transnet. This is an import substitution project to the value of R75 million creating between 75 and100 jobs.

• HBM and SA Health Project – this is a condom manufacturing project to supply the local market and export to the rest of the continent, and is a partnership between a local company and a USA-headquartered company. The value of this investment will be R65 million and potential create 200 jobs.

• Multi-Smelter Park Project – localisation and beneficiation prospect of establishing five to eight metallurgical smelters, attracting in the range of R 16.5 billion in foreign direct investment and creating approximately 8 000 new jobs in the Colenso and Newcastle area. This will include power stations that will supply energy to the smelters.

• Iron Ore Project – the Melmoth iron ore project is a joint venture between Jindal Mining SA and Sungu-Sungu Mining, as the principal Prospecting Right License holder. The project is currently at exploration level, and is estimated at R40 billion. This is expected to create 1 500 jobs on full operation.

• Manufacture of Ethanol from Sugar Project – the project promoter, Silvapen intends to establish an ethanol manufacturing plant near Jozini on the Makhatini Flats to the value of R1.2 billion, with a potential for 1000 jobs.

• St Lucia Wind Farms Project – this project will produce 48 MW of renewable energy. The first phase of the project is investment value of R150 million and potential 100 jobs will be created. We are facilitating one of the biggest investments by Chinese company Hebei Iron and Steel. The prospects look good and this will be in the in Richards Bay IDZ to the total of R75 billion. The company plans to be operational around 2018/19.