City partnership helps drive Cape Town to a cleaner future

STATEMENT BY THE MAYCO MEMBER FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH, ALDERMAN JAMES VOS

The City’s innovative partnering model has helped to realise more job and growth opportunities in one of the world’s fastest-growing and most important industries.  Read more below:

This week I joined the City’s partner in the clean energy space, GreenCape for a visit to Pathways Cycles, a local company that is successfully realising job and growth opportunities in a sustainable environment.

Operating in the delivery space, the company uses e-cycles instead of petrol-powered vehicles to bring fast foods to neighbourhoods across Cape Town.

Pathway Cycles’ existing contracts are with several of the major fast foods brands in South Africa, allowing the business to employ 70 drivers and adding an estimated four new drivers each week.

After connecting with the business via the International Cleantech Network Solved Platform, GreenCape is currently assisting Pathway Cycles in sourcing funding that will help them to secure more bikes, which means more jobs for Capetonians.

Realising the potential for economic and employment opportunities within Cape Town’s high-growth sectors is one of my biggest priorities. There is no question that the green economy is one such sector where a host of possibilities exist.

Through our funding for GreenCape, which works with businesses, investors, and others to unlock the investment and workforce potential of cleaner technologies and services, the City is able to grab hold of these opportunities.

Through this model, the City has created an enabling business environment that will ensure that Cape Town-based developers win over 75% of the projects in the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme’s (REIPPPP) Bid Window 5.

It is clear that the green economy is a hub of innovation and growth and through targeted funding for partners such as GreenCape, Cape Town is leading the way towards a cleaner, more sustainable South Africa.