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Western Cape Business 2021

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The 2021 edition of Western Cape Business is the 14th issue of this highly successful publication that, since its launch in 2005, has established itself as the premier business and investment guide for the Western Cape. The Western Cape has several investment and business opportunities. In addition to the regular articles providing insight into each of the key economic sectors of the province, a special feature on thriving agricultural exports gives insight into the details of what fruits and wines go where. An interview with the Port Manager of the Port of Cape Town provides more understanding of the scale of the logistics operation that is a major port. Another special feature examines the City of Cape Town as a national headquarters for the thriving asset management sector. The cover picture reflects an exciting new find of gas condensate off the south-eastern coast, a potential game-changer for the Western Cape and South African economies. This new development is covered in the overview of the oil and gas sector.

OVERVIEW Construction

OVERVIEW Construction and property The eastern edge of the Cape Town CBD is to be transformed. SECTOR INSIGHT Building at Conradie Park has begun. Plans for a large development on the corners of Heerengracht Road and Christiaan Barnard Street are going ahead, despite the general economic slowdown due to Covid-19. The mixeduse Harbour Arch project stands on the eastern entrance to Cape Town’s CBD on a 5.8ha site which has been underutilised and unattractive for decades. The Amdec Group’s R15-billion development means to change that with housing, hotels, offices and restaurants which will densify the city and provide the CBD with an eastern gateway. The development could spark further work on the Culemborg site, which has often been mentioned in plans, as an Olympic and soccer World Cup site, for example. The Provincial Government of the Western Cape’s “Better Living Model” aims to deliver 3 602 residential units in an affordable, mixeduse and residential-led development on the site of the old Conradie Hospital on the edge of Pinelands. The integrated, mixed-income housing development (pictured) aims to reverse the spatial planning that was put in place under apartheid. With the state putting in the bulk infrastructure, costs for developers are significantly reduced. The quid pro quo is that the developer must set aside a certain number of housing units (49%) to grant-funded housing. The Belhar CBD is the site of 4 188 assorted residential units, including student accommodation, social housing units and ONLINE RESOURCES Artist’s impression, Conradie Park. Image: Concor Cape Town Transport and Urban Development Authority: www.tda.gov.za Construction Industry Development Board: www.cidb.org.za SA Institute of Architects: www.saia.org.za military veterans’ units. Between June and December 2019, the provincial government handed over 1 144 title deeds to beneficiaries in the province. An article in Visi in 2020 heralded the arrival of Art Deco accommodation in central Cape Town at the opposite end of the affordability scale. Described as a “striking new vessel” that has “dropped anchor among the venerable advocates’ chambers that line Cape Town’s Keerom Street”, Tuynhus houses 43 small apartments and four mini-penthouse suites. It is designed by Robert Silke, of Robert Silke & Partners. FNB, which publishes a regular property barometer, has done an in-depth analysis of previous crises to understand the post-Covid property market. According to John Loos, a property strategist at FNB Commercial Property Finance, the most vulnerable sector is likely to be Retail Property. Smaller neighbourhood shopping centres, with more essential items and greater convenience, will be less vulnerable. The lockdown accelerated the trend for people to work from home, and so the Office Property sector will come under pressure. Many companies will be reducing office space, but this is merely a speeding up of an existing trend. ■ WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2021 38

Tourism and events OVERVIEW Operators are hoping the Lions will roar. A shade under one-million passengers passed through Cape Town International Airport in 2019, a 2% increase over the previous year, which had grown by 0.8% from the year before. In 2019, Cape Town Tourism projected that the value to the Western Cape of the cruise-ship industry between 2017 and 2027 would be about R220-billion. And then Covid-19 hit. Major investments have been made in the Cruise Ship Terminal, near the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), and the Cape Town Air Access programme. Air Access created more than 750 000 new inbound seats between its inception in 2015 and 2020, adding something like R6-billion to the provincial economy. In 2019/20 the CTICC secured 52 conferences with an estimated economic impact of R2.3-billion. Unfortunately, the conferences and events sector is likely to be hit as badly as the cruise-ship industry. Many tourism operators in the Western Cape are pinning their hopes on the incoming rugby tour in the winter of 2021 by the British and Irish Lions, if Covid-19 allows. The South African Rugby Union expects 37 000 fans to follow the team from Britain, more than 13 000 jobs to be created and a tax benefit to South Africa to accrue of about R450-million. Following the major drought experienced by the Western Cape, the Westin Cape Town has taken steps to reduce its dependence on the municipality for water. The hotel’s position on reclaimed land in the CTICC precinct of the Foreshore means that about 1.2-million litres of seawater have to be taken out of the basement every day. This water is converted into 441 000 litres of clean water by reverse osmosis which saves more than 100-million litres of municipal water annually. The Westin has also created an organic roof garden, from which it supplies its restaurants with vegetables. The Western Cape Provincial Government wants to promote education in the arts. Based on research which found that 6% of employment in South Africa is in the cultural sector, the Western Cape will expand the traditional STEM emphasis to ONLINE RESOURCES Cape Nature: www.capenature.co.za Cape Town Tourism: www.capetown.travel Garden Route and Klein Karoo: www.visitgardenrouteandkleinkaroo.com George Tourism: www.georgetourism.org.za Plettenberg Bay: www.plett-tourism.co.za SECTOR INSIGHT Income from air travellers and cruise ships disappeared in 2020. The Westin Cape Town’s organic rooftop garden. include two additional A’s: Arts and Agriculture. There are 60 000 people employed in the culture sector in the province. The opening of the R500- million Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art in the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town has made a big impact. With a footfall of 24-million visitors going through the Waterfront every year, the Zeitz is well located to attract good crowds. The conversion of the old grain silos, which created 6 000m² of gallery space, was paid for by the owners of the Waterfront, Growthpoint Properties and the Public Investment Corporation. ■ 39 WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2021

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