In 2015, the Gauteng government revealed its plans to build South Africa’s first “post-apartheid” city along the Vaal River with the R11 billion Vaal City Project. Photo: Google Images
Speaking in his State of the Province Address (Sopa), Gauteng Premier David Makhura announced his administration’s ambitious plan to help fix the Vaal economy, reports Sedibeng Ster.
Makhura says plans are being made to breathe new life into the manufacturing, logistics, agricultural and agricultural processing sectors of the Vaal Triangle by creating a special economic zone on both sides of the Vaal River – in Gauteng and the Free State.
Netwerk24 reports Sedibeng investment projects include the development of a freight transport and logistics hub, the Vaal Marina development, developments such as the Savannah City and Vaal River City projects, an AB InBev investment project and logistics and mining investments in the Heidelberg environment.
Delivering his Sopa at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University in Ga-Rankuwa, Tshwane, Makhura said government hoped the planned projects would push about R40 billion worth of investment into the economy of the Vaal Triangle.
He said the national and provincial governments were already in talks with the two universities in the area – the Vaal University of Technology (VUT) and North-West University’s Vanderbijlpark campus. They want to explore the possibility of a master plan to consolidate these two universities into a single, prosperous and innovative university village with a university-based economy.
“Growing Gauteng Together is about building a sustainable future for all,” he said.
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