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The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Ebrahim Patel, has welcomed the R50 million investment launch by BFG Africa Rail in the Advanced Manufacturing sector in Germiston, Gauteng.
 
BFG Africa is a subsidiary of a multinational company in Bahrain specialising in manufacturing composite products and one of the top five global suppliers of advanced composite material. The company has set up BFG Africa Rail in South Africa to supply composite products to PRASA.
 
Minister Patel says the investment will result in the state- of- the- art composite manufacturing facility which boosts improved engineering processes using advanced technologies.
 
It will also include training that benefits skills development for workers that have been trained at the international operations, to ensure manufacturing efficiencies in the newly-established plant.
 
The advanced composite products coming out of this new factory will find applications in the rail, renewable, defence and other sectors.
 
The scale of the investment will enable the company to achieve production capacity that will meet South African requirements as well as exports into the Sub Saharan markets.
 
The investment will also lead to new jobs being created and by the end of December 2019, will result in the full staff complement of 120, according to the company.
 
The launch confirms the improving investment climate in South Africa and will contribute to President Ramaphosa’s investment mobilisation drive.
 
Minister Patel noted the investment is a positive step for localization of component manufacturing.
 
The import substitution will lead to 76% of the components being built in SA at this plant.
 
This investment is also in line with the Industrial Policy Action Plans’ focus areas of leveraging the infrastructure roll-out to accelerate industrial capacity Investment and localisation on the Industrial policy formed part of the backbone to achieving transformation and inclusive industrialisation.
 

Issued by The Department of Trade and Industry