In a potential economic game-changer for the Vanderbijlpark (Vaal), the American Citibank SA has pledged almost R1.4b in financing for the building and development of an aerotropolis in the economically-depressed region.

Other major infrastructure plans are also in the pipeline for multi-decade projects in the Vaal and southern Gauteng, the bank announced.

The proposed new aerotropolis is set to be built south of the Grasmere Toll Plaza on the western side of the N1 highway, sources said.

An additional R200m has been earmarked for the development of black industrialists in the Vaal region, Citibank SA said.

Citibank SA said in Cape Town on Thursday that the project will include a sizeable new international airport and that it has applied to rezone the area as a special economic zone.

And that’s not all – the Vaal aerotropolis will also be the catalyst for broader economic growth in southern Gauteng, with a similar project in the pipeline for Heidelberg, sources close to the projects told Vaalweekblad.

These projects will also bring additional agricultural and manufacturing hubs to the Vaal.

They will include limiting the impacts of trucking on the region’s roads, which have been degraded by massive overuse by trucks moving products out of the region due to collapsed rail services, sources told the newspaper.

Citibank addressed the media on the subject at an event with the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition (DITC).

Major work has already gone into the project, said Stan Taylor, Citibank’s Chief Country Officer in South Africa.

An aerotropolis is an airport where most of the supporting infrastructure and supplies are built around the airport, thus generating investment and economic growth.

The DITC is the main administrator of the funding, which will mainly go to black industrialists and be administered by the Department of Trade and Industry.

“Citibank also envisages that social housing, student accommodation, and other services will follow once rezoning is done.

“We love the fact that it’s happening in an area that has been previously underserved, and we believe that the initial investment will be a catalyst to further envisaged investment over a multi-decade period and could total more than 30 times our initial investment,” said Citibank’s Taylor.