Question NW334 to the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development
29 June 2022 - NW334
Masipa, Mr NP to ask the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development
What is the detailed progress made to date with regards to the building of the Foot and Mouth Disease facility at the estimated costs of R500 million?
Reply:
The first allocation for the FMD vaccine factory was made in the 2007/2008 financial year. A figure of R214 million was allocated by the National Treasury over a four–year period. An additional figure of R400 million was allocated over the MTEF beginning in 2019-2022.
The process of establishing a GMP compliant facility started with the development of new production methods. This process is to ensure that there is capability for production of GMP compliant vaccines at scale once the new factory is completed. This involves processes such as optimisation of cell culture production, optimisation of antigen production, production of master seed stocks, validation of antigenicity, scaling production to pilot amounts, optimisation of downstream processing and optimisation of formulation. This process is ongoing and will continue during the establishment of the new factory.
In preparing for the GMP compliant facility, construction preparatory work was undertaken. This process involved the management of land rights including necessary zoning, environmental, infrastructural/ external services, legal requirements in relation to such land rights (obtaining the title deed, Surveyor-General diagram, municipal account, and approval).
Currently, the project plan for the GMP compliant facility is at the stage of appointment of service providers. This process is to ensure that the specifications for the appointment of service providers to design various aspects of the project (process engineers, architectural designer, mechanical engineers, electrical and electronics engineers, quantity surveyors, civil and structural engineers as well as other key appointments such as fire engineers, occupational health safety and environmental practitioners is concluded. Appointment of service providers for the built environment has been approved by Council and is underway subject to service level agreements. Service providers will commence work immediately upon conclusion of these contracts.