Promise of tens of thousands of jobs at investment summit

THE promise of more than ten thousand new jobs across Wales from £16bn worth of projects has been confirmed by the Welsh Government as it today stages a major investment summit.

- SION BARRY

The Wales Investment Summit at the ICC Wales in Newport, will be attended by delegates drawn from 27 countries. Of the 300 firms participating which, as well as individual companies, also include investors such as private equity and pension funds with billions in deployable capital some 60% are currently not active in the Welsh marketplace.

The Welsh Government were not able to give a precise breakdown on the promised jobs between newly created permanent roles and construction related. These are projects that have been confirmed since the First Minister announced plans to hold a summit when she took up office last year.

What the summit itself will generate in terms of new job creating projects could takes years to fully evaluate, as investment decisions of scale often have to be approved as part of wider long-term plans.

The Welsh Government will be presenting a number of projects at the summit, although they are already in the marketplace, for potential investment. However, bringing government and investors together in the 'same room' could identified new opportunities.

Of the 10,000 job figures some 5,000 have been ascribed to US data centre venture Vantage Data Centers as part of a £10bn investment across South Wales, including at the former Ford engine plant in Bridgend which it will transform into a major data-centre campus to meet the demands of AI.

However, the vast majority of the jobs will be construction related with around 500 permanent jobs being created at Bridgend. Vantage, which already has a data centre campus in Cardiff, also recently secured planning for an another major data centre project at the Welsh Government-owned Bro Tathan Business Park in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Other projects include:

■a £600m investment from Vodafone which will bring its 5G standalone coverage in Wales to 99% and reach two million more people;