City and Province sign agreements to improve employment opportunities in Atlantis

The City of Cape Town and its Provincial counterparts, on Tuesday, 15 December 2020, signed agreements cementing the opportunity to use the City’s immovable property assets in Atlantis, as a pillar for economic recovery.  This property transaction, demonstrates the City’s determination to extract not only the best economic value from its property transactions but also the social value for the community.  Read more below:

Following the registration of the Atlantis Special Economic Zones (ASEZ), it was now incumbent on the City of Cape Town to meet the provisions of the cooperative agreement entered into between the City and the Western Cape Provincial Government (2015) to transfer the general industrial zoned properties, valued at R56,5 million to the Atlantis Special Economic Zone Company (SOC) Ltd (Registration Number 2018/587778/30).

The MEC for Finance and Economic Opportunities, David Maynier, signed the agreement on behalf of the Western Cape Provincial Government together with the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management, Alderman James Vos, the City’s Head of Property Management, Ruby Gelderbloem, and Dr Pierre Voges from the Atlantis Special Economic Zone Company.

The requisite provisions of the SEZ regulations ensure that contributions from the three spheres of government (National, Provincial and Local) are amalgamated to establish the SEZ and render the special economic zone fully operational.

The unlocking of the land parcels means that the ASEZ Company takes responsibility for the use, management and control of the property assets.

‘The conclusion of the agreements provides much needed economic stimulus and opens opportunities for the community of Atlantis and Cape Town’s green technology hub.  It allows the ASEZ Company to legally contract on the land with prospective bidders,’ said Alderman Vos.

The Atlantis SEZ Company views the land contribution from the City of Cape Town as a key component to continue to grow a viable and vibrant GreenTech economy in the Atlantis area.

A key factor in the success of the SEZ will be the ability to attract and secure potential investors in the ASEZ and for it to be competitive against other economic zones as well as being attractive in the Western Cape property market. To this end, the City and Provincial signatories committed to prioritising the facilitation investment and partnering with all constituents.

The ASEZ Company is an important tool to continue to unlock Industrial development, manufacturing, employment technology and skills transfer, and spatial restructuring amongst other opportunities expressed in different strategy policies and plans of the City of Cape Town.

‘Together with our dedicated Atlantis development facilitation office, we are determined to build on our past successes and forward-thinking infrastructure investment such as the MyCiti bus route, to continue to include Atlantis and surrounds in our economy

‘We are really excited about what this transaction will reap for the local work force.  Providing jobs in the green technology space will not only provide work but will also facilitate skills transfer and people development into the ever expanding technology future,’ said Alderman Vos.