Council approves two reports which show departments’ strategy to attract and increase investment is paying off

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

Today, I had the pleasure of tabling two reports before a full sitting of the City of Cape Town Council.

The first report, on the implementation of the investment incentives in Atlantis, shows the enticements offered by the City and taken up by businesses resulted in the retention of 1 450 jobs.

During this period, PF Nonwovens, which manufactures disposable hygiene products, has commissioned their new plant in Atlantis to the tune of R1.3 billion and is expected to create 200 full-time jobs by the time it is fully operational.

Just recently my department extended the investment incentives to a further five industrial areas in Cape Town, namely Triangle Farm; Parow Industria; Sacks Circle; Lansdowne Industrial; and Elsies River.

The main purpose of the Investment Incentives Policy is to provide investment incentives in areas where there is great potential for job-creating investment but where challenges to investment currently exist.

Based on the success of the policy in Atlantis, I am hopeful that these 5 new areas will become a dynamic job-generating industrial nodes.

The second report from my Directorate deals with the approval of an incentive tariff for Amazon Data Services (ADS), which will pave the way for significant direct investment and indirect value-added contributions for the city over the next 10 years.

ADS provides vital infrastructure support for Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) cloud computing offerings. Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of computing power, database, storage, applications, and other IT resources via the internet.

These internet-based services require physical infrastructure such as data centres. ADS is finalising the construction of three new Availability Zones in the city to support the launch of the first AWS Region in Africa.

Incentives and investment facilitation offered by the City are meaningful ways we are working to ensure Cape Town remains regionally and globally competitive. As tech hub of the continent, Cape Town has what it takes to provide a business-friendly environment which grows the economy and creates jobs.