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Gauteng Business 2016 edition

  • Text
  • Manufacturing
  • Mining
  • Development
  • Investment
  • Business
  • Network
  • Gauteng
  • Economic
  • Province
  • Provincial
  • Infrastructure
  • Economy
  • Automotive
  • Sector
  • African
  • Johannesburg
The 2016 edition of the Gauteng Business and Investment Guide is the premier business and investment guide for the Gauteng province and the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GGDA). In addition to detailed profiles of key provincial organisations, including the GGDA, the Automotive Industry Development Corporation Centre (AIDC), the Gauteng Investment Centre, the Gauteng IDZ, the Gauteng ICT Park SEZ and Constitution Hill, this edition includes well-researched economic and demographic data on the province, as well as insights into the province’s five development corridors and the new industries and development nodes in these corridors; a focus on Gauteng as a global city region; and key growth sectors for the province.

SPECIAL FEATURE

SPECIAL FEATURE Transformation, Modernisation and Reindustrialisation Transformation remains a key focus of the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG), with an ambitious plan afoot to make Gauteng an integrated city-region characterised by social cohesion and economic inclusion over the next five-to-15 years. Premier David Makhura’s government is committed to the initiative and says it will take decisive steps to implement it. The Premier announced during his maiden State of the Province Address that his administration has adopted a multi-pillar programme of radical transformation, modernisation and reindustrialisation of Gauteng. Over the next five years GPG is determined to revitalise and mainstream the township economy by supporting the development of township enterprises, cooperatives and SMMEs that will produce goods and services that meet the needs of township residents. Key sectors with the potential to address the twin policy imperatives of creating decent employment and greater economic inclusion have been identified. These sectors include finance, automotive industry, manufacturing, ICT, tourism, pharmaceuticals, creative industries, construction and real estate. THE GPG SAYS IT WILL INSIST ON PLANNED AND INTEGRATED URBAN DEVELOPMENT WHICH WILL ENABLE IT TO BUILD MORE INTEGRATED AND SUSTAINABLE HUMAN SETTLEMENTS SMMEs and township enterprises will by no means be overlooked, with firm undertakings having been made to bring these key sectors into the mainstream economy. The GPG says it will work with research institutions to vigorously promote innovation within the provincial economy and fast-track the development of new industries that will usher Gauteng into an innovation-driven, knowledge-based, smart and green economy. The government will also put the focus on the reindustrialisation of the Gauteng economy through strategic infrastructure development. This involves a massive rollout of public transport infrastructure across the province which will be utilised to revitalise and modernise old industries that will locally manufacture or assemble buses, trains and locomotives. In a significant boost to employment and economic inclusion, the provincial government and municipalities will procure 75% of all goods and services from South African producers, especially SMMEs. Decisive spatial transformation In what is seen as a bold measure, the provincial government wants to radically transform the spaces people live in by connecting and integrating places of work and human settlements. The GPG has noted that even after the end of apartheid, government has continued to build houses and human settlements that reproduce the spatial legacy of apartheid – far from work and the majority of GAUTENG BUSINESS 2016 32

SPECIAL FEATURE economic opportunities, and away from public transport nodes. In the next five to 15 years it intends to turn the tide against the current spatial patterns of apartheid in pursuit of spatial transformation and modernisation of human settlements across the province. The GPG says it will insist on planned and integrated urban development which will enable it to build more integrated and sustainable human settlements and communities that are inclusive and diverse. In addition, radical steps will be taken to transform the spatial configuration and landscape of Gauteng province through better and coordinated land use management and spatial development. Municipalities and stateowned land will also be brought into the picture, to ensure that a new built environment and inclusive spatial landscape emerges across the Gauteng city-region. This will be done through public transport infrastructure development and the creation of new integrated and sustainable human settlements and post-apartheid cities that are more connected, livable, smart and green. Accelerated spatial transformation Economic and spatial transformation must be underpinned by – and support – an accelerated programme of social transformation, at the centre of which is raising the living standards and quality of life of all the people of Gauteng. At the centre of Gauteng’s social transformation is its determination to improve the quality of education and healthcare, provide social protection to the vulnerable (in particular women and children) and to eradicate poverty and build social cohesion and social solidarity. 33 GAUTENG BUSINESS 2016

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