Free State prospects for FIFA 2010 fading

A number of negative developments and scenarios so far this year are clearly impacting negatively on the prospects of Free Staters to cash in optimally on the business benefits to be derived from hosting the Soccer World Cup coming June.
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In his State of the Province Address for 2010, Free State Premier Ace Magashule acknowledge that the provincial government has simply too little money to cover al its commitments and that therefore innovative ways have to be come up with to get the private sector involved / to raise money from the private sector. Magashule said to cover all needs captured in the 2010/11 provincial budget, R36 billion is needed, but only R21 billion, or 58,3 %, is available. For instance, to maintain / build 23 essential roads, R4 billion is needed, but only R1,2 billion is available. Meanwhile the development of a cargo logistical hub at Harrismith remains a flagship project for the Free State.

Presenting the second Industrial Policy Action Plan, Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies, said government aims to create 2,4 million jobs by 2020 with this plan. The plan is to come into effect in April 2010 and focuses on four key areas to boost industrial capacity: Strengthening the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), revising procurement legislation, the deployment of trade policies more strategically and targeting anti-competitive practices. Davies said the example of Brazil’s development bank BNDES had shown that capital at the IDC was relatively expensive – at an average of about 8 % compared to less than 1 % for the Brazilian organisation. The Brazilian development bank was also recapitalised regularly, while the IDC had last received recapitalisation in the 1950s, he said. The lesson, Davies said, was that the Brazilian example was able to leverage much more finance.