City partners with GreenCape and Atlantis SEZ to promote Cape Town as a green tech investment and manufacturing hub

STATEMENT BY THE CITY’S MAYORAL COMMITTEE MEMBER FOR ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES AND ASSET MANAGEMENT, ALDERMAN JAMES VOS

City partners with GreenCape and Atlantis SEZ to promote Cape Town as a green tech investment and manufacturing hub

With wind power arguably being touted as the cleanest and cheapest energy technology world-wide, the Windaba conference was the ideal opportunity to gain valuable global market insight into current technology trends on wind energy generation and showcase Cape Town as a green tech manufacturing location of choice for economic growth.  Read more below:

Special Economic Zones are vital tools used by the South African government in driving industrial and economic development. In Cape Town, we have a dedicated Special Economic Zone for GreenTech manufacturing in Atlantis. The Atlantis Special Economic Zone has positioned itself to optimally tap into global GreenTech market opportunities to help address poverty and unemployment in Atlantis.

I am pleased that my team at the Department of Enterprise and Investment was invited to be part of this year’s Windaba conference.  The Windaba is an energy event focused on wind energy generation.  It provides opportunities to review and gain valuable market insights, while also providing the opportunity to understand the global market and green technology trends.

I also had the opportunity to gain many informative insights while engaging with companies, investors and exhibitors at the event regarding the job-creating opportunities in this green tech sphere. The Atlantis SEZ has secured approximately R700 million worth of investment into the ASEZ, which has created more than 300 jobs across six companies. With approximately 93ha of development-ready SEZ land available, this is a significant opportunity for investors to make use of.

We have partnered with one of our investors into the ASEZ namely Rexolus Africa to use the Windaba space and stand to exhibit their services and products and to network with leaders in the industry.

The Windaba is an excellent platform for the ASEZ representatives to engage with the industry’s key role players. It has also allowed us to announce its arrival and existence to the industry and its leaders. We had the great opportunity to also partner and stand side by side with GreenCape and Invest Cape Town at the conference. These two significant entities, along with the City of Cape Town, are driving Cape Town to a greener future.

I  believe that green energy provision opportunities hold the key to the economic growth of our city.