Cape Town cruise terminal finally on the cards
13 March 2015
Transnet confirmed earlier today that it will, in April, announce the successful bidder for the construction of a dedicated cruise terminal at Cape Town harbour. This comes after I have submitted several questions and motions to the Minister of Public Enterprises enquiring about the sudden withdrawal last year of the tender process.
I will write to the Chairman of the Portfolio Committee on Tourism requesting that the Committee receive regular updates, thereby allowing it to ensure that the project remains on track.
I have consistently pushed for clarity on why the tender was suddenly withdrawn late last year after much anticipation from within the industry.
The DA believes that the cruise industry has the potential to provide economic benefits to the city and the province. For every 12 international tourists that visit our shores, one full-time sustainable job is created. Government needs to awaken to this fact and take advantage of it.
The City of Cape Town is poised to become a cruise tourism hot-spot in South Africa, and the construction of dedicated cruise liner infrastructure in the city will have vast benefits for regional job creation and economic development.
The President in his State of the nation address announced that more should be done to open our oceans for trade and tourism. Deplorably not much has been done to carry out the much-needed upgrades at the major ports in our country.
If government fails to get going on these infrastructure upgrades, we run the great risk of losing international visitor interest in our country. If tourism numbers dwindle and the sector suffers that will directly impact on our economy and kill thousands of jobs.
The DA will continue to push for the construction of a dedicated cruise liner terminal in Cape Town as a viable and important job-creating project for this city and region.
Statement issued by James Vos MP, DA Shadow Minister of Tourism, March 13 2015
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