A plan that hopes to revive South Africa's manufacturing industry and create close to 2,5-million jobs was tabled in Parliament on Thursday.

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies told the National Assembly that the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP) represented a significant step forward in scaling up efforts to promote long-term industrialisation and diversification.

"It is estimated that IPAP will result in the creation of 2,477-million direct and indirect decent jobs over the next ten years," Davies said.

"It will diversify and grow exports, improve the trade balance, build long-term industrial capability, grow our domestic technology, and catalyse skills development.

"As a country South Africa has no alternative to the course of action we propose," he said.

The plan aimed to "expand production in value-added sectors with high employment and growth multipliers that cooperate in export markets as well as compete in the domestic market against imports".

Metals fabrication, capital and transport equipment, green energy saving industries, and agro processing would be the new focus areas of industrial policy.

Interventions would be "broadened" in areas that included automotive and components, medium and heavy vehicles, plastics, pharmaceuticals and chemicals, and clothing.

"Manufacturing and other productive sectors of the economy are the engines of long-term sustainable growth and job creation in developing countries such as our own," Davies said.

The plan's cornerstones included enhancing access to industrial financing for investment in priority sectors and revising procurement legislation.

"Increased investment in these sectors will generate a mix of import replacement and exports which will help to lower the account deficit and reduce balance of payment risks," he said.

The aim of revising procurement legislation was to increase competitive local procurement and supplier development opportunities and to minimise leakages from the domestic economy.

Davies said government would deploy its trade policies "more strategically", which would include intensifying the fight against customs fraud, under invoicing, smuggling and illegal imports - "all of which profoundly undermine productive capacity and employment in the economy".

Anti-competitive practices would be targeted, particularly where these concerned "intermediate inputs" to downstream labour absorbing production and consumer goods to low income households. "It is neither a wish list nor a set of unattainable objectives.

"It is an action plan which, like any other, will require sustained and focused work and perseverance if it is to success - which it must do," Davies said