‘My visit today was a fact-finding mission to get an overview of the future plans for Hisense. It was also an ideal opportunity for me to present the Atlantis Special Economic Zone (SEZ) as a viable next step for the expansion of locally based businesses. It is my mission to help promote and facilitate more investments in this space, given its importance for job creation and manufacturing to support our green economy,’ said Alderman Vos.

Hisense launched its R350 million, state-of-the-art consumer electronics and home appliances facility in the Atlantis Industrial Park in June 2013. The facility has the capacity to produce over 400 000 refrigerators and televisions annually. The local community has benefitted from job opportunities with 98% of the 600 employees being sourced from Atlantis and its surrounds.

In 2017, Hisense achieved a significant milestone of producing its millionth television and millionth fridge at its factory in Atlantis.

‘We are witnessing an upsurge in manufacturing activity in Atlantis that bodes well for our local economy,’ said Alderman Vos.

In June 2018, the minister of Trade and industry, Mr Rob Davies, confirmed the designation of the Atlantis SEZ. The designation sees the entire Atlantis industrial area being declared a Special GreenTech Economic Zone.

The area is home to successful developments in the green economy and further investment in the green economy at the Atlantis SEZ is expected to grow even more since acquiring this special status.

One of the City’s strategic priorities over the next five years is to position Cape Town as a forward-looking, globally competitive business city. In order for us to achieve and maintain this status, we need to improve the attractiveness of our city as an investment destination.

‘Our vision for Atlantis is to develop the area as a key strategic node that is open for business. There is huge potential in this region due to the large tracts of industrial land, a large labour pool, and its strategic location along transport networks. The incentives provided for investors across financial and non-financial sectors will continue to serve as an attraction to potential investors,’ added Alderman Vos.

Based on that vision, the City designed a land disposal process for GreenTech that has understood local, continental and international investor requirements to be able to access land swiftly.

The incentives to attract investment includes fast-tracking land use and building plans, a reduced electricity tariff, providing exemption from application fees for land and building plans and debt write-offs for businesses that meet employment targets.

Since 2013 and up until June 2018, through the Atlantis incentives scheme, a total of 132 financial incentives were taken up to the value of R73,7 million while 1 658 non-financial incentives were taken up by eligible companies. These efforts have also meant that thousands of jobs have been retained and many new jobs have also been created by new investors coming into the area.

The City’s land and infrastructure is the backbone of the SEZ.

Five investors are currently operational in the proposed SEZ. Two further investors are in advanced stages of negotiation with the City to lease land.
R1,8 billion in investment is anticipated before 2022, creating about 1 200 direct jobs.