The tour explored different flagship projects in which the metro is investing. It also featured infrastructure developments and key investment strategies taking place in the Aerotropolis.
The bus made its first stop at the recently built Ekurhuleni Business Facilitation Network Centre in Kempton Park.
The centre is a modern business facility built for economic development activities providing coordinated business support, incubation, mentorship, linkages and financing interventions for small, medium and micro enterprises and co-operatives.
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The bus then proceeded to Tembisa, where workers were still busy with the construction of the Ekurhuleni Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system.
From there, the media were led to Lords View Industrial Park, situated near Chloorkop on the north-eastern side of Kempton Park.
This site has been planned as an environmentally friendly and eco-sensitive industrial and logistics park and it makes use of the latest developments in the cleaner, greener township development.
Other places visited were:
*Teraco Data Environments, bringing international best practice in vendor neutral data centre management to South Africa to give businesses a technically superior, physically safer and lower-cost environment for their information systems.
*Rhodesfield: this residential suburb in Kempton Park, which borders the R21 and R24 freeways, is home to a Gautrain station, which will eventually be extended to the east of Ekurhuleni. As part of the Integrated Rapid Public Transport Network of Ekurhuleni, this area forms a central point which is accessible to the community by road, rail and air.
*OR Tambo International Airport: major developments are continuing to reaffirm the airport’s position as a leader in aviation on the African continent.
*Pomona: a cultural area which has since been rezoned for commercial development. It is an area that is central to the Aerotropolis development around the airport.
*Riverfields: situated in the northeast of Kempton Park CBD between the airport and Tshwane, it is in close proximity to the continent’s first Aerotropolis and also a prime location within the Albertina Sisulu Development Corridor.
*Jewellery manufacturing precinct: the construction has begun at the this precinct. This facility will cater for mineral beatification, diamond cutting, polishing and trading as well as light manufacturing for jewellery and other high-end products.
*Clearwater Estate: the development of this project is 840 000 square metres in size and comprises mixed-use residential and commercial development with a total projected value of well over R2 billion.
The guided tour ended at the Denel Campus.
