THE Coega Development Corporation (CDC) this past week received news of a landmark approval of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for a 440 ha Land-based Aquaculture Development Zone (ADZ) and Desalination plant in Zone 10 of the Coega Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
“The approval of the EIA is a major leap towards fulfilling the Coega SEZ’s vision to locate one of the largest ADZs in South Africa on one geographical footprint, in the Coega SEZ and respond to the severe water shortages experienced by the Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB),” said Dr Keith du Plessis, CDC Manager: Project Development.
According to the CDC, the failure by companies – especially smaller operations – to obtain EIA approval often result in projects never seeing the light of day. Because of this, the aquaculture sector in SA is largely untapped and underperforming.
“The approved EIA relieves the financial burden from the investor as it would ordinarily take up to two years for companies seeking to establish an aquaculture facility and or a desalination plant at the Coega SEZ,” Du Plessis said.
“This is evident of the CDC’s value proposition as a plug and play environment, where investors have shortened timeframes from when they enquire about investing to when they have access to market.”
The NMB Municipality recently announced that the water levels of the Metro supply dams have reached an all-time low of just above 24%. The CDC now has authorization to develop facilities for the desalination of water with a maximum capacity of 60 million litres (Ml) per day.
“This capacity, if tapped into, could provide for almost quarter of Nelson Mandela Metro’s current water consumption needs (currently at approximately 260 Ml/day). The CDC is a capable and potential solution to the water problems experienced in the Metro.”
Du Plessis added that while costs associated with desalination were often viewed as an obstacle to an extensive rollout of the technology, major strides have been made in this regard over the past few years that have seen the costs coming down substantially.