The Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town has proposed a major renovation project costing R20 billion, The Sunday Times reports.
This project aims to enhance the city's coastline and expand the popular tourist destination by 50%.
Chief executive, David Green, revealed some key features of the plan, including a new public walkway connecting the city center to Mouille Point, the creation of a new bay area for watersports, and the addition of a beach suitable for swimming with accompanying amenities.
The development will primarily take place in the Granger Bay precinct, responding to the growing tourism and property markets in Cape Town.
The Sunday paper reported that V&A has applied for an additional 440,000m² in development rights.
While details of other amenities remain undisclosed, stakeholder briefings have hinted at the inclusion of an upmarket resort, hotel, and thousands of new sea-facing residential units.
The V&A says it aims to involve stakeholders in the planning process through public consultations and anticipates initiating this by the end of June pending specialist studies.
Green noted in November that the V&A has shown exceptional growth in visitor numbers. “The V&A welcomed just over 20 million visitors in the last 12 months which highlights the steady recovery that is being experienced across the country. This is up 36.1% on 2021, but down 23.8% pre-COVID-19 in 2019 over the same period,” said Green.
The group said a year ago that it was experiencing something of a growth spurt, intending to add 300,000m² of space over the next twenty years to bump the number of visitors up to 35 million.
Though 30-odd years old, the V&A has grown exponentially since the Public Investment Corp (PIC) and Growthpoint Properties took it over.
While the PIC and Growthpoint paid R9.2 billion for the development in 2011, its value is today estimated at just under R20 billion. It makes up about 2% of the Western Cape’s economy and adds 28,000 jobs to it.
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