Cape Town: The City Council has given the greenlight for the Manufacturing Support Policy, which aims to ignite investment in Cape Town’s 33 industrial hubs. The policy is a refinement of the 2018 Investment Incentives Policy. This provided a range of financial and non-financial motivations to eligible investors in six targeted industrial areas.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Economic Growth – Alderman James Vos stated that the new Manufacturing Support Policy expands its focus to 33 areas around Cape Town and is simpler to administer and implement. It is also arriving at an especially critical time for the manufacturing industry as they are aiming to grow trade and investments with source markets across Africa and elsewhere in the world.
In summary, the new policy proposes:
- A continued focus on supporting the manufacturing sector due to the wide ranging impact of this sector on the economy in terms of job creation (from low to high-skilled labour), linkages to other sectors (logistics, warehousing) and fostering technological innovation;
- Extending the support packages to all the 33 industrial areas of Cape Town;
- Retaining the financial measures that support the fast-tracking of development applications;
- Providing a broader package of non-financial support measures;
- Focusing support measures on attracting new investments into Cape Town;
- Including support measures that encourage green technology investment; and
- Packaging the positive attributes of the City that makes it easier for business to operate within e.g. good infrastructure, good local governance, electricity grid stability.
According to Alderman James Vos, the approval of the Manufacturing Support Policy this week coincides with the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa at the South African Investment Conference of new projects that is being secured for development in Cape Town.
These investments stem, in part, from ongoing engagements by the City of Cape Town. In these engagements, the officials and him cited the policies as mechanisms that pave the way for major investments that are a significant source of 470,000 jobs added over the current local government term.
Notably, implementation of the Manufacturing Support Policy will commence following the decision of the Council. The City of Cape Town will further engage targeted stakeholders to operationalise the support measures across the identified industrial areas.