An ambitious new infrastructure project will see South Africa establish a new ‘megacity’ within the next five years.
The R33 billion, 200-hectare Mooikloof Mega Residential City project was launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday and is meant to address the challenge of providing affordable housing in high-income areas.
In a statement, he called it a “catalytic development project which promotes mixed-income social integration and corridor and transit node densification.” Mooikloof was one of 50 projects gazetted in July.
Situated in the eastern part of Tshwane and covering an area of some 200 hectares, Mooikloof is expected to eventually have 50,000 apartments. The first phase, 15,000 family units, is to be called Mooikloof Manor.
The apartments will sell for between R495,000 and R799,000 each, focusing on the GAP Market and government employees, such as police, health workers, civil and administrative staff and parastatal employees.
The development would provide access to lifestyle services, which have been previously inaccessible to individuals in lower-income groups, Ramaphosa said.
The total development cost of the project is around R30 billion, foreseen to result in a total economic impact of R75 billion and will create an estimate 41,000 direct jobs.
Once the development has been completed, the value of the development is projected to be R33 billion. The completed development is projected to generate R404, 9 million in taxes and 7 000 jobs per annum.