Times Of Swaziland: DEVELOPING SIKHUPHE

DEVELOPING SIKHUPHE
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Sanele Sibiya on 04/09/2024 18:33:00


THE King Mswati III International Airport is a flagship project of the nation.
The main aim of the project is to drive the country’s connectivity with the
rest of the world, supporting commerce, industry, trade and tourism alike, among
other sectors. As economists, we always look for economic value, all public
works projects should contribute towards economic growth and render a good
return on investment.Contributing to national development has to be a concerted
effort with the whole nation contributing ideas and potential sustainable paths.
The airport must be profitable and the nation must reap the benefits.
Infrastructure
I will reference my thoughts based on the plans that the ENHB’s attempt to
secure 200 billion for a housing estate. The whole infrastructure development is
expected to cost well to the tune of 50 billion Emalangeni. This is fine and
well, I would advise though that an industrial complex should precede this
development. The Sikhuphe area is a designated Special Economic Zone (SEZ), as
such the whole area should be structured around industry.
A special economic zone is an area in a country that is subject to different
economic regulations than other regions within the same country. The economic
regulations of special economic zones (SEZs) tend to be conducive to—and
attract—foreign direct investment. Housing infrastructure will not help us
achieve the goal of setting up a SEZ, but it is a critical enabler to ensuring
smooth operations of the zone. I agitate that efforts should be made to build
the industrial park first, then housing in tandem. Alternatively, we could build
the industrial park and the housing estate in parallel.
Connectivity
Also, there is need to ensure that the SEZ is connected to the overall
transportation infrastructure in the country. Furthermore, we need to ensure
that it is connected to the whole ICT infrastructure. One would expect to have
fiber optic broadband infrastructure with 4G capabilities available in the area.
This is yet another critical enabler to ensuring that an industrial park booms.
The country needs to be able to guarantee investors that connectivity will not
be an issue. We acknowledge efforts to link the road infrastructure to the
airport, this will facilitate domestic import sourcing into the SEZ.
We also need the railways to come up with a line that will link the airport to
the dry port in Matsapha. One might argue that why link the airport to the rail
line because we need the airport to be a cargo hub diverting from passenger
freight. I agree a 100 per cent with that line of thinking, however, we need to
be strategic on the companies that we bring in to operate in the SEZ. Also,
those companies need to be able to attract low transport costs for inputs, so
that they increase their margins making operations in the zone very attractive.
We need to target high value products for operation in the SEZ, food processors
also need to be advised to use the zone for speedy transport ensuring that the
produce reaches markets fresh, passing all health and safety tests and
regulations.
Standards
Among the critical enablers required for an efficient SEZ is standard
certification. The country needs to intensify her efforts towards setting up ISO
certified labs to ensure that all goods produced in the zone meet the
international standards for entry in a number of international markets. This
would streamline processes within the SEZ ensuring that the rules of origin work
in our favor as a nation. The target should be to export  high value products,
the SEZ should be reserved for high value products. The tech sector should be
among the areas we are most interested in to setup within the SEZ. We encourage
the government to further capacitate the Eswatini Standards Authority to ensure
that we produce commodities that are compliant with global standards.
Policy alignment
The Special Economic Zone Act of 2018, establishes The Royal Science and
Technology Park and the Sikhuphe or KMIII as special economic zones. In my view,
the policy needs to be reviewed in line with the newly enacted investor policy
and guideline.  The incentives incorporated into the Investor Act must be
transposed into the SEZ Act of 2018. The benefits enshrined in the 2018 Act must
be maintained. The only change that I think need to be made, is to establish the
minimum investment thresh hold as defined in the Investor Act. Also, we need to
be defining the sectors that can actually benefit or will be given preference.
Also, if possible, we need to ensure that albeit production taking place in a
special economic zone, we need to form linkages with local business. This has to
go beyond the training levy as enshrined in the 2018 SEZ Act and synchronise
with the Investor Policy. We need to align all our policies to ensure that it is
easier for investors to understand and take on the opportunities within the SEZ.
Also, we need to be cognisant to the fact that we are 4 hours from both the
busiest airport in Africa and the Transnet rail link. We need to think
competitively.