Mpumalanga Business 2017 edition

SPECIAL FEATURE The

SPECIAL FEATURE The province has excellent roads and railway connections and is well served by airports, airstrips and heliports. The Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport opened in 2002, but the old Nelspruit airport is still operational. Comair has regular flights into the province from Johannesburg. The Maputo Development Corridor is a transportation corridor comprising road, rail, border posts, port and terminal facilities, running from Pretoria in Gauteng through Mpumalanga to the Port of Maputo in Mozambique. The corridor supports high volumes of cross-border freight services and aims to boost trade within and beyond the region. Industry and tourism benefit from the concentration of resources and ease of transportation. This international initiative emphasises Mpumalanga’s excellent location as a logistics and transport hub. Water and its management will always be an important task in a region where industries like mining and heavy manufacturing coexist with agriculture and urban settlements. National government has convened a water summit and the provincial government has committed itself to providing support to municipalities through the Heritage, Greening Mpumalanga and Tourism Flagship Project. The major new dam at De Hoop (in the neighbouring Limpopo Province) is having a positive effect on water management in Mpumalanga. The capital city Mbombela (formerly Nelspruit) is the capital city of Mpumalanga province and the main town of the Mbombela Local Municipality within the Ehlanzeni District Municipality. With a diverse manufacturing sector and as the headquarters for most financial institutions in the province, Nelspruit also lies in a strategic position along the Maputo Development Corridor (MDC). The MDC, along the national N4 highway, forms the link between the central Gauteng region and the Mozambican port of Maputo. There are two airports. The older aerodrome, south of the city, is used by small planes, while the more modern Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport is the gateway to many of the tourist highlights in the province. The city is also well-served by rail links, which connect to Swaziland, Mozambique and other South African provinces. Manganese Metal Company is the largest producer of pure electrolytic manganese metal in the world. The products are created from high-grade manganese ore extracted by means of a hydrometallurgical process. The plant has an annual capacity of 27 000 metric tons. Other manufacturing enterprises in Mbombela include paper and pulp producers and furniture factories. The new University of Mpumalanga has its headquarters in Mbombela. The Lowveld Show and the InniBos Arts Festival are major events that showcase Mbombela’s diversity and importance as a regional hub. The fertile Crocodile River Valley ensures good fruit crops in a typically subtropical climate. Mangoes, litchis and avocados are among the crops grown most profitably and the town is at the centre of the regional citrus sector. The Lowveld Botanical Gardens contain many rare species. Ehlanzeni District Municipality Towns: Mbombela, Malelane, Hazyview, White River, Sabie, Lydenburg, Barberton. The urban centres are nodes of manufacturing in this region, which is also at the heart of Mpumalanga’s tourism offering. The Kruger National Park, the Blyde MPUMALANGA BUSINESS 2017 14

SPECIAL FEATURE River Canyon, Bourke’s Luck Potholes, God’s Window and other attractions make this a highly desirable place to visit. Citrus, sugar and forestry are the major agricultural products, all being major contributors to export earnings. The Sappi paper mill at Ngodwana is one of the biggest of its kind, while RCL Foods operates two large mills in the east. The population is about 1.5-million. Nkangala District Municipality Towns: Middelburg, Delmas, Kriel, Emalahleni (Witbank), Emakhazeni (Belfast), Dullstroom, Emgwenya (Waterval Boven). This area straddles the north-west. The district is rural and traditional in the north-west where the King of the Ndebele is still revered, a coal mining and steel producing area in the industrial centre and has a trout - fishing triangle in the north-east. The district is at the centre of the fly-fishing sector that includes hatcheries and accommodation for tourists. Just over a million people live in the district. Gert Sibande District Municipality Towns: Bethal, Secunda, Standerton, Ermelo, Volksrust, Mkhondo (Piet Retief), Carolina. Power stations abound in this region, which stretches across the southern half of the province, and it is the home of the giant Sasol facilities at Secunda. The area is also on the top of South Africa’s maize triangle and agriculture and food processing are well developed sectors. Sheep, chicken, sunflower and sorghum are just some of the areas’s many agricultural products. Nestlé has a processing plant at Standerton and Mondi has a pulp and paper facility in the southeast. About 900 000 people live in the Gert Sibande district. MPUMALANGA PROVINCE N1 Mookgophong Thabazimbi Modimolle POLOKWANE Mokopane Lebowa Kgomo Roedtan Tzaneen Limpopo R37 Hoedspruit Phalaborwa H7 North West N4 Bela-Bela Temba Brits Cullinan PRETORIA Centurion N4 R25 N11 Middelburg eMalahleni Groblersdal Stoffberg R33 eMakhazeni Lydenburg R36 Dullstroom Machadodorp Emgwenya Pilgrim’s Rest R37 Sabie Graskop R40 R40 MBOMBELA Hazyview White River N4 H10 Komatipoort MOZAMBIQUE N14 JOHANNESBURG N12 N1 Meyerton Sasolburg Gauteng R35 N12 Ogies Carolina Delmas Vandyksdrif N17 Leandra Breyten R38 Bethal N17 Balfour Evander Ermelo R33 R65 R50 N2 Morgenzon Amsterdam R23 Barberton SWAZILAND N Standerton R35 N11 Heilbron N3 Mkhondo Free State Frankfort Vrede R34 Volksrust Wakkerstroom KwaZulu-Natal N2 Motorway Main Road Railway 15 MPUMALANGA BUSINESS 2017