Green industries for east of city
The establishment of a host of green belt industries, including the development of the Tshwane Agropolitan City, has been announced by Tshwane executive mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa in his state-of-the-city address.
The concept of a “green belt” of industries, agricultural beneficiation and green settlements, which will lead to potential private sector investment of up to R6 billion, has been finalised for the far eastern part of the Tshwane metro.
Delivering his state-of-the-city address on Thursday, Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa outlined plans that were expected to eventually link Cullinan, Bronkhorstpruit and Rayton to the existing Hazeldean area.
“The east capital development concept has been finalised and the minimum financial requirement of the initial intervention has been determined at R152 million, which will unlock potential private sector investment of approximately R4 billion to R6 billion,” Ramokgopa said in his address delivered at Freedom Park.
He said in line with Tshwane Vision 2055 to create a resource-efficient and resilient capital city, phase 1 of the Tshwane food and energy centre in the east of the metro – the Tshwane Agropolitan City – had already started and the environmental impact assessment was already underway.
“The Tshwane Agropolitan City will contribute towards renewable energy generation through solar and biogas plants, urban food production, small, medium and micro enterprise development, employment creation and social cohesion.”
In addition, the mayor said, this important project would contribute towards restoring the dignity of displaced farmers in the Bronkhorstspruit and Cullinan areas and would serve to re-ignite interest in agriculture and agro-processing into the future.
On the east capital project, Ramokgopa said the metro had also completed a practical implementation framework detailing work-streams, funding options, possible financing mechanisms and an action agenda that will enable the municipality to take the east capital forward.
“We are currently packaging catalytic interventions required to fast-track the development and realise the requisite levels of economic growth and development within the far east of Tshwane,” he said.
The metro had to date secured a service provider to package projects with respect to:
– Industrial development, focusing on green industries;
– Agriculture and agro-processing;
– Green property development;
– Infrastructure and
– Tourism, leisure and aqua development.
Ramokgopa’s two-and-a-half-hour address focused on the remaking in the city through radical economic transformation and spatial justice.
“The remaking of the capital city is about intervening decisively in the transformation of human settlements, the space economy as well as the creation of functioning nodes,” he said.
Tshwane was the fourth-largest municipal economy in the country and as measured by gross domestic product, contributed 10.1% to the national gross domestic product.
In 2001, Tshwane’s unemployment rate was over 30% and today, it was 21%, while youth unemployment also came down by 10% to 30%.
“Our city claims the highest percentage of adults with a tertiary education – 23,4% compared to 16,6% in Cape Town and 19,2 in Johannesburg,” Ramokgopa said.
Turning to sport and recreation, the mayor hailed the Tshwane Open Golf Tournament, recently held at the Pretoria Country Club in Waterkloof, as one of the great successes achieved by the metro.
“The Tshwane Open was mooted to showcase the city as a tourism destination of choice,” he said. The event had had a total economic impact of about R54,4 million for Pretoria and R98,4 million for South Africa as a whole.
He said the municipality had decided to host the tournament for another three years as this would go a long way, not only in positioning Pretoria as a capital city of excellence, but also in building and uniting the people of the city.
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