The newly approved Industrial Policy Action Plan (Ipap) could seek to create 700 000 new jobs over the next ten years, with one fifth of the jobs focused on the automotive sector, consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan said on Wednesday.

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies will unveil details about the second version of Ipap and specific job targets at a briefing on Thursday.

Last week, Cabinet said that the new plan would have a greater focus on interventions to support the creation of "decent work".

Ipap would seek to improve growth in the manufacturing industry, Frost & Sullivan analyst Laura Peinke said, adding that the core focus sector would be the automotive industry.

"Government is expected to leverage the Automotive Production and Development Programme to achieve targets outlined in the previous Ipap and double production to 1,2-million units by 2020," Peinke said.

"It will also want to increase the local content of components in vehicle production substantially."

Frost & Sullivan stated that the automotive industry would have the largest impact on job creation, with over 150 000 additional jobs to be created in the next ten years.

Ipap was also expected to include key actions regarding the Industrial Development Corporation, which Peinke said should be seen as the industrial financing body for the rollout of the Ipap.

"Manufacturing productivity in South Africa has continued to increase over the last ten years, but Frost & Sullivan believes that this will not be sustainable. As productivity has increased, local competitiveness has declined."

Peinke believed that there were a number of reasons for this, including: high cost and limited availability of capital, a weak skills system, and unreliable and expensive port and rail systems.

"These challenges have resulted in indications that South Africa's industry and export competitiveness has declined relative to other developing countries such as Brazil, India and Malaysi. In order to combat these challenges, government will need to leverage a number of crosscutting policy decisions."

On Monday, the Trade and Industry Department said that the new plan would focus on opportunities in capital goods, transport equipment and metal fabrication, and thatgovernment's support for the automotive industry will likely be sustained as a flagship sectoral programme. It is also likely that other previously identified sectors, such as chemicals, forest products and clothing and textiles, will continue to receive attention.