Today, 3 October 2019, I officially announced the winning bidders to develop 55 properties, along the Orange Grove and Houghton Estate transport node, as part of the expansion of our Inner City Rejuvenation Programme.
I had the pleasure of being joined by the MMC for Economic Development, Cllr Leah Knott, MMC for Development Planning, Cllr Reuben Masango, CEO of the Joburg Property Company, Ms Helen Botes, as well as the Chief Operations Officer, Mr Floyd Brink, whose combined efforts made today’s success possible.
The developments awarded today will cater to the clear need for student and affordable residential accommodation. This latest investment drive forms part of the multi-party government’s promise of rejuvenating the Inner City, and we are now expanding the project to other parts of the City of Johannesburg.
This will help drive the much-needed redevelopment of suburbs as well as development and travel nodes beyond the Inner City. This investment will also help to drive up economic growth to our goal of 5 percent per annum.
We are yet to finalise the total number of units to be created as well as jobs that will yielded from this project but we are particularly pleased by the fact that this project holds an investment value of R10 billion.
This adds to the R22 billion investment value from the 84 properties that were released to private developers in April. These developments are expected to generate 11 000 direct construction sector jobs, at a time when the economy is bleeding jobs.
In essence, in a single year, we have been able to bring investment into Johannesburg worth more than R30 billion.
As we transform Joburg into a city where more residents live close to their place of work, it is equally important that we aim for development along our main transport nodes.
The developments in Orange Grove and Houghton Estate are close to the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) System and will help ensure that students have affordable accommodation in safe, conducive environments and that public transport is easily accessible.
Today’s ceremonial handover is a clear indication that the private sector is regaining confidence not only in the Inner City, but also in other areas that have slowly fallen to decay. In fact, the JPC has never seen interest on such a scale before.
But this historic achievement would only be possible with the continued support of the DA caucus as well as members of our coalition government, the IFP, ACDP, COPE, UDM and Freedom Front Plus.
A huge thanks also goes to EFF caucus, which votes with us on an issue by issue basis.