ILEMBE DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY
AN EFFECTIVE COMPETITOR IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Situated on the east coast of KwaZulu-Natal, the iLembe District is set to become a major economic hub in the province. The N2 national highway running from Durban up through Richards Bay to Swaziland and Mozambique dissects the district.
Three distinct development zones exist: the coastal strip with its residential and tourism components; the inland corridor, which is influenced by the existence of major commercial agricultural activities, and the rural hinterland.
The newly developed King Shaka International Airport and Dube TradePort is pivotal to the district's future success. The development has created immense opportunities for growth and stimulation of economic initiatives. Spinoffs include:
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High value manufacturing
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Business and logistics parks
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Research and technology parks
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Warehousing and distribution centres
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Entertainment and shopping
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Hotels and residential development
There is a strong positive sentiment from the business sector for new direct investment into the region, creating pressure to deliver on serviced commercial sites for occupation, as well as on the upgrade of existing infrastructure to accommodate the new demands. This is an exciting time for the region as a whole, with the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy for the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, as approved by Cabinet in the last quarter of 2011, clearly indicating that the northern corridor will become the focus of economic growth over the next 20 years and beyond. This bodes extremely well for the district, which will again experience unprecedented growth once the worldwide econofor growth to occur once again.
The diverse culture of this region has been shaped by people from three continents; Africa, India, and Europe, offering a unique vibrancy to the municipality. The main drivers of the economy are the agriculture, tourism, manufacturing and services sectors.
The excellent climate with lots of sunshine and plentiful rain allows for a variety of year round agricultural activities.
Sugar Cane farming is the dominant agricultural business. Supporting agricultural activities include forestry, fruit and vegetable farming, tunnel farming, and fresh cut flowers. The high value fishery sector has potential for the establishment of fish farms with technically sound partners.
The manufacturing sector comprises of heavy industries such sugar and paper mills.
The Compensation/Ballito area north of the new King Shaka International Airport has been identified as a likely economic opportunity zone. Several light industry parks such as Imbonini offers high quality mini factories and stand alone factory ware-house developments for lease or purchase.
Isithebe Industrial Estate continues to be an effective manufacturing hub, offering cost-effective production space to prospective investors. iLembe is at the heart of South Africa's logistics platform. The submarine telecoms cable systems connecting South Africa to the rest of Africa has two landing points - Mtunzini in iLembe and the Western Cape. The connections to the submarine cables foster a sustainable call centre industry and the development of ICT hubs. To this end a pilot broadband project was implemented in 2011.
