OVERVIEW Pick n Pay and
OVERVIEW Pick n Pay and Fortress REIT are developing the Eastport Logistics Park. Credit: Fortress more than 1.2-million subsidised houses have been built by government entities in Gauteng. Provincial government has pledged to release 10 000 serviced stands as part of its Rapid Land Release programme and it intends finishing incomplete housing projects in Alexandra, Evaton, Kliptown, Bekkersdal and Winterveldt. Bodies such as the National Housing Finance Corporation, Indlu and Umastandi (social capital entrepreneurs) are working together with provincial authorities to find ways to formalise and monetise the township market so that sustainable incomes can be generated and affordable housing and rental stock becomes more readily available. An important concept for developers in Johannesburg is the tax incentive that accompanies the Urban Development Zone (UDZ). The City of Johannesburg and the South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA) have developed a database for all UDZ properties. Information about the owner of the plot, the valuation and zoning rights is available for every stand. Various “improvement districts” have also been created, for example the RID (Retail Improvement District) where businesses in a designated area pay levies to secure improved cleaning and security ONLINE RESOURCES Construction Industry Development Board: www.cidb.org.za Gauteng Partnership Fund: www.gpf.co.za Johannesburg Development Agency: www.jda.org.za Johannesburg Social Housing Company: www.joshco.co.za SA Reit Association: www.sareit.co.za services. The Johannesburg City Improvement District Forum shares information among the CIDs. Expenditure by CIDs collectively on supplementary public space safety, cleaning and maintenance is estimated to be about R61-million annually. The Gauteng Partnership Fund (GPF) has attracted more than R3.5-billion in private sector funding for affordable housing in the province since 2012. The Brickfields housing and rental development in Newton was funded by the GPF and implemented by the Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC) as one of the first inner-city rejuvenation projects. JHC is a leader in converting bad buildings to usable rental space. The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) projects range from the upgrading of Constitution Hill, the Faraday Station precinct, work on the Fashion District and pavements of the inner city, renovation of the Drill Hall and the Newtown upgrade. Private developer Indluplace Properties has purchased nine large apartment blocks, taking its total buildings in central Johannesburg CBD, Berea and Hillbrow to 23: 33% of the units are bachelor pads, 22% are twobedroomed flats. The listed company (its major shareholder is Arrowhead) intends to “aggressively grow its portfolio” of high-yielding properties as it believes the rental market has huge potential. ■ GAUTENG BUSINESS 2022 38
Information and communications technology Data centres are expanding and new ones are being built. OVERVIEW The biggest data centre on African soil is under construction in Ekurhuleni. Teraco Data Environments secured a R2.5-billion loan in 2021 to build the 50 000m² JB4 data centre on 6ha. The centre will have 38MW of critical power load. The company has five other centres, two of which are in Gauteng. Johannesburg is also one of two South African cities to host a Microsoft Azure data centre. With several global companies choosing to station their South African headquarters in Gauteng, the province is well connected. More than 1 500km of network fibre has been connected throughout the province, with 1 066 sites such as schools, health facilities, libraries and community centres giving community members and entrepreneurs the chance to be connect with the digital world. A Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GGDA) subsidiary, The Innovation Hub, has a programme called eKasiLabs which supports entrepreneurs and young people with good business ideas. The biggest investors in new technology are banks and other players in the financial sector, where technology is rapidly lowering the barriers to entry for new businesses. This trend is illustrated by the rapid development of new exchanges which are based on sophisticated ICT hardware and software. One of the provincial government’s stated goals is to get several ICT initiatives to work together. If the work of The Innovation Hub, several eKasi laboratories, the Tshimologong precinct, universities and research institutes could be integrated, a more powerful ecosystem would be the result. A High-Tech Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is another idea that is being pursued. Making broadband connectivity and free Wi- Fi available to poor households in the province is another task. Gauteng’s Premier will appoint a Digital Transformation Advisory Panel to assist in driving these initiatives. Various large spatial plans for the province include an element whereby these new cities or settlements will be built as “smart cities”. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria hosts a new body aimed at preparing South Africa ONLINE RESOURCES eKasiLabs: www.theinnovationhub.com Independent Communications Authority: www.icasa.org.za Technology Innovation Agency: www.tia.org.za SECTOR INSIGHT The CSIR has launched a 4IR body. Teraco’s Isando campus, JB3. Credit: Teraco for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), the South African Affiliate Centre of the World Economic Forum. The “Tshepo 1 Million” campaign links the provincial government with the successful Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator and more than 40 large companies. Both Johannesburg and Tshwane have free Wifi networks with Tshwane’s covering 780 zones in places such as libraries, educational institutions and clinics. The Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) runs the SoftstartBTI ICT incubator in Midrand and Tuksnovation, a high-tech incubator, at Pretoria University. Several incentives relevant to companies and educational bodies in the ICT sector are available from the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic). ■ 39 GAUTENG BUSINESS 2022
