The City of Cape Town has approved building plans of nearly R8 billion, to be built in the first quarter of the current financial year. Up to 4,733 building plans were submitted from July 01, 2025 to September 30, 2025 to the Development Management Department for assessment.
Deputy Mayor and Member of the Mayoral Committee for Spatial Planning and Environment – Alderman Eddie Andrews said that the construction industry is pivotal to Cape Town’s local economy. It is a massive source of direct and indirect job opportunities that fuels the demand for goods and services associated with the industry and is an important indicator of investment appetite.
Andrews mentioned that the latest statistics indicate that the residents and investors have confidence in Cape Town’s future; and that property owners are eager to invest in improving or expanding existing assets or developing new properties.
According to him, the Development Management Department of the City of Cape Town has invested a lot of time and energy in streamlining processes and making it easier to do business with the city, over the past three years. These efforts were made with an aim to ensure that the building plans and development applications can be submitted with ease.
The other main objective was to keep the turnaround time for assessments to about 30 working days for building plans, and 90 days for land use applications, pending statutory and other requirements in terms of the City’s Municipal Planning By-law.
Cape Town assessed development and building plan applications in terms of the Municipal Planning By-law; the Development Management Scheme (DMS) or zoning scheme which determines the land use for every site or land parcel that falls within the City of Cape Town’s municipal boundaries; and the National Building Regulations.
Eddie Andrews further stated that the City is compelled by law to notify interested and affected parties of applications that may have an impact on adjacent property owners and residents when an application goes over and above the existing land rights in terms of the DMS. These interested and affected parties have the right to oppose, object to, and comment on development applications.
This approval of development applications usually takes longer when a submission is objected to or opposed. All developments and building plans must be approved by the City, and all residents and interested parties, as well as developers and landowners, have the right to appeal the final decisions.
Notably, up to 2,047 land use applications were submitted to the City of Cape Town from July 01, 2025 to September 30, 2025. Most of these – 380 – were for new developments in the Southern planning district.