First soil turned in God’s Window skywalk project
The skywalk will be a cantilevered walkway suspended off the edge of a cliff with a drop of more than 900 metres.
Work on the long-awaited skywalk at God’s Window in the Blyde River Canyon officially started on September 17, when among others, the premier of Mpumalanga, Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane, turned the first soil with a gold-painted shovel.
Although the project was already envisioned in 2004, the procurement process to build the skywalk started in 2019.
Mtshweni-Tsipane reassured the public that challenges around land ownership that the project previously faced, have been smoothed out now.
“There are communal property associations (CPA) within this area that own this land. Therefore it was in our best interest to ensure that whatever we do within their space, they become part and parcel of those processes,” said Mtshweni-Tsipane.
According to a statement issued by the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA), the project is expected to especially benefit the Mapulana Tribe, which owns the land on which the skywalk will be built.
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“While the construction phase will be creating 300-plus job opportunities, it is expected to offer more than 100 jobs once completed and operational. Additionally, the community will get a shareholding in the concession through a special CPA, named Blyde 04 CPA.”
The premier said local communities will receive 10% of proceeds during the project’s developmental and implemental phase.
“Immediately after that we will move on to 30%. The lifespan of the investors in this project is 27 years, after which the project will be officially handed over to communities of this area. Whatever is made out of this project will directly benefit local communities,” said Mtshweni-Tsipane.
She said the skywalk project brings a significant economic spinoff to the province in terms of attracting tourists both domestically and internationally, but hopes that the initiative will attract other investors in the retail sector.
“Most people travel to Cape Town solely for the purpose of going up Table Mountain. We now have our own skywalk in Mpumalanga. We want to invite tourists to come and enjoy the beauty of Mpumalanga where the sun rises.”
The skywalk will be a cantilevered glass walkway suspended off the edge of a cliff with a drop of more than 900 metres. The walkway will protrude about 12 metres from the cliff and it will be about five metres wide.
According to the MTPA, the walkway will give visitors a 360-degree panoramic view. On a clear day, one will be able see as far as the Indian Ocean and Maputo.
It will be higher than the Grand Canyon Skywalk, which stands at between 150 and 280 metres, and the Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge in China, which is 260 metres at its highest point.
