City assists residents in Nyanga and Philippi to access pay-as-you-go cleaner energy through Investment Incentives policy

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

Recently, the City’s Investment Facilitation Unit (IFU), within the Enterprise and Investment department, assisted the proudly Capetonian PayGas company with access to a non-financial incentive in the form of fast-tracking building plan approvals, so that they could launch quantity gas (LPG) refilling stations in Nyanga and Philippi. This will enable residents to access affordable basic energy for cooking, heating and lighting to the amount that customers can afford. Read more below:

To ensure Cape Town remains regionally and globally competitive, the City offers a suite of financial and non-financial incentives, as well as investment facilitation services as part of our commitment to grow the Cape Town economy for the benefit of all.

The local economy has been deeply impacted by the measures implemented to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Services that have proven to attract, support and land investments in the City of Cape Town and which lead to job creation are essential now more than ever.

Together with the officials in the Enterprise and Investment Department, we intend to use all levers at our disposal to continue to expand current investments and bring in new ones as we plot the road to recovery post COVID-19.

The PayGas model consists of the deployment of the cashless Pay-as-you-go-Gas™ refilling stations within walking distance inside townships and operated by local micro-franchisee entrepreneurs. Through its economic inclusion model, PayGas empowers local entrepreneurs from townships and low income households to switch to affordable cleaner energy and these cashless refilling stations give relief access to affordable basic energy for cooking, heating and lighting.

When speaking with the CEO of PayGas, Philippe Hoeblich, I was very pleased to hear how efficient the services offered by the IFU to PayGas has been. In April 2019, the IFU provided assistance to enable the deployment of the first Pay-as-you-go-Gas station in Delft, which now services more than 7 500 low-income customers. It is clear that the IFU team has made a positive impact on both the company as well as the residents of Delft, Nyanga and Philippi by enabling access to affordable cooking and heating to 20 000 vulnerable households during these times.

The City’s Investment Incentives Policy provides investment incentives in areas where there is great potential for job-creating investment but where challenges to investment currently exist.

The investment incentives have been extended to a further five industrial areas in Cape Town, including:

• Triangle Farm
• Parow Industria
• Sacks Circle
• Lansdowne Industrial; and
• Elsies River

The newly designated incentive areas form part of the City’s strategy to ensure we retain and expand businesses in these key locations.

By targeting specific areas which have met a set of criteria, the City intends to:

• Maximise the socio‐economic return of incentives by focusing on areas with strong potential but which are currently underperforming
• Assist in removing area‐specific blockages to investment or systemic market or regulatory failure
• Enable the achievement of development objectives in specific areas; and
• Assist with addressing issues of spatial inequality

The incentives are made up of non-financial and financial incentives and include:

Non-financial incentives which are tangible ways where we can help businesses grow by:

• Prioritising single-point investment facilitation
• Fast tracking building plan applications
• Fast tracking land use applications
• Fast tracking occupancy certificates

Financial incentives offered by the City makes financial provision to cover specific costs:

• Building plan application fee waiver
• Land use application fee waiver
• Development contribution deferral and write off up to R1 million
• Special electricity tariffs for a period of two years.

The IFU, within the Enterprise and Investment department, also offers many investment facilitation services. Specifically, help in navigating municipal processes for larger investments in the City, clearing bottlenecks as well as business retention and expansion services to make sure that businesses grow and create employment. In Atlantis, the IFU has an enhanced role in supporting the green technology investment Special Economic Zone.

Not only is Cape Town the tech hub of the continent, but the city also boasts first-class infrastructure, sound governance and four of the top universities in Africa, providing a skilled workforce. Since 2017, the IFU has worked with investors attracted by these sound fundamentals and assisted in landing investments to the value of approximately R39 billion leading to 26 275 jobs.

The City of Cape Town is committed to ensuring that we can continue to grow the economy by ensuring the retention of existing businesses, helping expand current investments and securing new ones. This is particularly important for the recovery of our economy going forward.

For more information, click on this link to view a video overview of the services offered by the Investment Incentives policy. Further information on these impressive and proven services can be found on the Invest Cape Town website at www.investcapetown.com and I encourage  any investors thinking of setting up operations in Cape Town or expanding their current operations to contact the IFU on investment.facilitation@capetown.gov.za