Government boost for Atlantis Industrial Area
A PLAN to make the Atlantis Industrial Area a special economic zone is fast becoming a reality after it was gazetted by Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies.
Atlantis has seen little economic activity for several years‚ leading to widespread unemployment and poverty.
But the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape provincial government are trying to change that.
The area is being touted as a hub for the green economy and the government is enticing companies to invest billions of rands there.
In March, Pegas Nonwovens committed to invest R1.3-billion to build a new plant.
The provincial government has welcomed Davies’s latest move.
“The declaration of Atlantis as an SEZ is a declaration to the people of Atlantis and surrounding areas that the government is serious about economic growth‚ social development and job creation in the area‚” it said. Mayor Patricia de Lille called on residents to support the plan and submit their comments to the Department of Trade and Industry to “create even more jobs for our people”.
De Lille said the history of Atlantis had been marked by economic despair when residents were placed on the outskirts of the city by the apartheid government.
“During that time‚ many companies were incentivised to open operations in the area,” she said.
“However‚ with the global economic recession in 2008‚ many companies closed down‚ causing widespread job losses.”
Economic Opportunities MEC Alan Winde said the move by Davies was an important milestone.
“There is already investment in excess of R600-million in the SEZ‚ creating hundreds of jobs,” he said.
“We know that South Africa is the world’s fastest growing green economy‚ and in partnership with GreenCape we are establishing the province as the hub of this growth.”