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Western Cape Business 2017 edition

  • Text
  • Agriculture
  • Maritime
  • Development
  • Gan
  • Network
  • Cape
  • Africa
  • Government
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Investment
  • Business
  • African
  • Sector
  • Banking
  • Provincial
  • Economic
  • Municipality
The 2017 edition of Western Cape Business is the 10th issue of this highly successful publication that, since its launch in 2005, has established itself as the premier business and investment guide to the Western Cape province. The Western Cape has numerous promising investment and business opportunities and this issue includes contributions from Alan Winde (Minister of Economic Opportunities for the Western Cape Government), interviews with Ryan Ravens (CEO of Accelerate Cape Town), Arifa Parkar (Western Cape Business Opportunities Forum CEO), Wesgro CEO Tim Harris and Lance Greyling (Invest Cape Town) as well as contributions from various business leaders. In addition, you will also find comprehensive features on all the key sectors in the Western Cape.

SPECIAL FEATURE The land

SPECIAL FEATURE The land earmarked for the Richmond Park development. Cape Town’s central business district (CBD) delivers a quarter of the city’s economic activity and about 30% of employment. Construction projects worth R16-billion are either being built or are in the pipeline for the CBD. Hundreds of hotel beds are being added to the city’s tourist offering and public money is going in to upgrades of the railway station and the Iziko South African Museum. A new Cape Town Museum is planned for the old Standard Bank building on Adderley Street. Major developments on both ends of the Foreshore will transform the city’s connection to the harbour and effectively extend the very successful formula of the V&A Waterfront across the front of Cape Town. A new cruise terminal on the western edge of the Foreshore (north-west of the Cape Town International Convention Centre, CTICC) welcomed 86 000 passengers in its first year of operation. The tender to run the terminal was won by the V&A Waterfront. The Amdec Group is developing The Yacht Club directly south of the terminal, a mix of commercial, residential and hotel space. This is part of a larger Port Gateway project that aims to connect the city to the sea. The Roggebaai Canal will be extended to Duncan Dock, providing a link to both the CTICC and the Waterfront. On the eastern edge of the Foreshore, a very ambitious plan envisages two new hotels, flats, retail space and offices rising out of ground currently occupied by three car dealerships and a roadworthy station on Christiaan Barnard Street. The Harbour Arch concept is based on Johannesburg’s Melrose Arch, with seven tower blocks to be constructed on 200 000m², roughly half the footprint of the V&A Waterfront. The Amdec Group are the owners and developers of the project. Further afield, a high-visibility site 17km from Cape Town CBD is being developed as a mixed-use commercial precinct with 300 000 m 2 of gross bulk lettable area on a 99-year leasehold basis. Called Richmond Park, it is anticipated that the development will be popular with distribution and light industrial businesses, but it will also incorporate a retail centre. Hotels Marriott International’s introduction of three new hotel brands to Cape Town forms part of the re-shaping of the Foreshore. Both the Cape Town Marriott Hotel Foreshore and the Residence Inn by Marriott WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2017 32

SPECIAL FEATURE will be part of the new Harbour Arch precinct, while the AC Hotel will be attached to the Yacht Club and be the first thing cruise line visitors see after they emerge from dealing with customs authorities. The three hotels will offer a total of 539 rooms. The Rezidor Hotel Group is adding a sixth Cape Town property to its portfolio with the opening of the Radisson Red Hotel V&A Waterfront Cape Town. The Capital Mirage opens in De Waterkant in 2016 while the boutique Silo Hotel will perch above the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, which is going to display its contemporary art in the Waterfront’s re-purposed grain silos. Tsogo Sun is spending R680-million on the site of the old Tulip Hotel to create a two-hotel and conference complex. Fronting on Strand Street (and Bree and Buitengracht), a total of 500 rooms will be available in a SunSquare hotel and a StayEasy hotel. Cape Town International Convention Centre Since it started operating in 1999, the CTICC has added R38-billion to the regional economy. It is jointly owned by the City of Cape Town (67.8%), the Western Cape Government (25.3%), and SunWest International (Pty) Ltd (6.9%). The Westin Hotel is on the western edge of the conference centre complex and several other large hotels are nearby, including two Southern Sun hotels, Waterfront Cape Town and The Cullinan. Building is under way to double the size of the CTICC, which will position Cape Town to handle mega-conferences such as those dealing with climate change. Two major conferences were recently secured with the help of the Cape Town & Western Cape Convention Bureau: the 18th International Congress of Immunology (IUIS) and the International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME). The CTICC bids were in competition with London, Paris, Mexico and Toronto, Hawaii, Auckland, Beijing and Santiago. These two events alone will bring 8 500 visitors to the city. In 2015/16, the CTICC generated R200-million in revenue and earned R65-million in operating profit by hosting 504 events. Voortrekker Road Corridor development The old road to the north is still a very busy road but there are plans to bulk up Voortrekker Road and make it an attractive investment destination. The City of Cape Town has recently put infrastructure worth more than R300-million into supporting the plan, and has given money to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) for it to develop a plan to upgrade the rail corridor. The Voortrekker Corridor is one of the densest transport nodes, with rail, road and taxi linkages throughout. The Greater Tygerberg Partnership is driving several initiatives to spur developments in the region. These relate to attracting investment, affordable housing, creating a world-class sporting facility at the Haardekraaltjie precinct, and lobbying for pedestrian malls, bike lanes and more efficient public transport. The City of Cape Town presented its Voortrekker Road Corridor: Strategy and Investment Plan at the African Real Estate and Infrastructure Summit at the CTICC in November 2016. 33 WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2017

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