Coega BPO Park Operational in March 2010
www.MyPE.co.za: The
construction of the 1 500 seat call centre in the Coega Industrial
Development Zone (IDZ) outside Port Elizabeth is well underway. Since
construction began in December last year, a total of 250 bases and 80
columns have been cast.
The 18 900 m2 facility, which is being built in Zone 4 in the Coega
IDZ, will cost an estimated R173-million. Beside the main call centre
floor area, office space, a kitchen, cafeteria and restrooms will also
be incorporated. Construction is expected to be complete by March next
year, and the facility should become operational shortly thereafter.
The main contractor is WBHO
and the principle agent is Uhambiso
Consulting Engineers. Mawethu
Civils is responsible for the platform,
the airconditioning will be done by Siyalungisa Air Conditioning and
Ivor
Smith Electrical will be handling all the electrical work.
Through the construction of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)
Park, the Coega
Development Corporation (CDC) anticipates that about
600 jobs will be created. These will be mostly in the fields of
bricklaying, steel erection, metal roof cladding, electrical
engineering and plumbing.
Project Manager, Bruno Ponzo, says the CDC has faced a number of
challenges in the run-up to construction. He says in the three years
that the project has been in the pipeline, finalising a cost-effective
design and making it feasible was key, as well as locating the correct
site within the Coega IDZ. “The last three years has been filled with
sorting through tenders, redesigning the proposed structures and
funding challenges, among others,” he says.
Ponzo says one major factor that needed to be taken into consideration
was that the IT infrastructure needed to be world-class and the very
latest technology. “We needed to go wireless to be able to offer
possible investors the best in IT technology,” says Ponzo.
The CDC has been the key driver in creating a viable call centre sector
in the Nelson Mandela Bay area and the Coega BPO Park is expected to
boost the global competitiveness of the Coega IDZ.
The CDC already has a working model of a call centre in the form of the
Absa Contact Centre, in which 94 people, whom the CDC has trained, are
permanently employed.
The CDC’s Human Capital Solutions (HCS) business unit is responsible
for all skills analysis, training and placement, among others, in the
zone. To date, it has trained 210 call centre operators. Those not
working at the Absa Call Centre are currently in host employment,
working towards their NQF Level 2 Contact Centre Support Certificates.
As an agent of socio-economic change in the region, the CDC is
committed to provide training to unemployed individuals in Nelson
Mandela Bay. HCS Executive Manager, Zuko Mapoma, says “From past
experiences it has become apparent that the recruitment component is
the most critical. Thus detailed planning, screening, verification
checks, suitability and assessment of candidates has been critical”.
Funding for training is sourced externally. All training programmes are
government aided either through Further Education and Training
Institutes (FET’s), Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETA’s)
and/or the Department of Labour (DoL), through the National Skills
Fund.
The training is demand-based, and to fill the BPO Park, the number to
be trained will be based on the business demands and operational needs
and plans.
Source: PERCCI.
Port Elizabeth Budget Accommodation
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