The conference was attended by various local and international dignitaries and business leaders, with the primary purpose of discussing investment opportunities and realising the full potential of the City of Ekurhuleni.
The master plan will be implemented over a period of 30 years and is set to present potential and current investors with a myriad of economic opportunities around the OR Tambo International Airport.
The Ekurhuleni Aerotropolis is the city’s economic growth path, aimed at repositioning the economy of the entire Gauteng city region as well as balancing the distribution of economic activities across Ekurhuleni, to create more than half a million new formal jobs over time.
Among the attendees was an 80-member business delegation from the Netherlands, to enable business-to-business networking with local businesses.
One of the visitors from the Netherlands, Rens Dulaart, who is a senior aviation consultant at To70, said: “We are here in South Africa to do business and to offer advice like safety and efficiency in the aviation sector.
“Ekurhuleni’s vision of an aerotropolis is similar to our aerotropolis, where we place focus on development of the aviation sector.
“South Africa’s aerotropolis is, however, even more ambitious than ours. You can hear that the metro has a clear vision and they know what they want, so we will no doubt work with them.”
Dulaart added that, in the Netherlands, regarding the aviation sector, attention is promptly being given to improving the quality of service levels, enhancing its destination value and increasing the use of its agglomeration benefits (from airport city to airport city region).
Another attendee, Linda Sieval, said they are supporting the aerotropolis programme, as it will bring growth to South Africa.
During the unveiling of the master plan, Ekurhuleni Mayor Mondli Gungubele said that, by inviting foreign delegates, the metro is proving its seriousness in making the aerotropolis a world player.
“I can say without fear of contradiction that we are unveiling to the world one of the most solid city development and investment attraction instruments,” he stated.
“Through this master plan, we are making a bold commitment as a show of force and demonstration of our resolve to change the lives of our communities.
”We are declaring a fresh approach to tackling poverty, joblessness, unemployment and the inequalities of the past.
“The Aerotropolis Master Plan embodies hubs of economic activities and community focal points, emphasising a mixture of public and private investment. Each hub features and economically supports the most complex key catalytic projects.
“This master plan identifies a massive potential that could be leveraged by the GCR to accelerate upstream and downstream economic activities that rely on airport connectivity.
“Each project identified in this document has a significant role to play in driving the reindustrialisation programme of the region, while activating new industrial opportunities in sunrise industries, biotechnology and advanced manufacturing.”
Victor Xaba, the deputy chief executive of Denel Aerostructures, a subsidiary of Denel SOC, said the growth of an ’ aerotropolis in Ekurhuleni will bring major benefits to industry and the high-tech manufacturing industry in the province.
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