Gauteng Business 2016 edition

SPECIAL FEATURE
The Gauteng Provincial Government’s introduction of the
development of five business corridors to boost economic
growth in the province could well be seen as South Africa’s
biggest attempt to encourage transformative partnerships
between different spheres of government and the private sector.
The bold project, which was allocated a whopping R10-billion of
the province’s R95.3-billion 2015/16 budget, will also, in conjunction
with the municipalities involved, attempt to change the space and
structure of the economy in order to address unemployment, poverty
and inequality.
Gauteng’s five development corridors
A macro-intervention is staged, aiming to reduce unemployment,
poverty and inequality. Over the next five years the government
intends mobilising R100-billion on restructuring physical assets and
capital transfers in the region, in partnership with municipalities and
private sector partners. Considering Gauteng contributes to 34% of
the country’s gross domestic product, appropriating 10.5% of the
2015/16 budget towards the provinces regeneration is sure to ensure
economic wellbeing!
To achieve its ambitions, the government intends reconfiguring the
City’s space along five ‘corridors.’ The success of the province’s radical
transformation, modernisation and re-industrialisation programme
rests largely upon the level of collaboration and dedication of all
role-players involved. Joint partnerships supporting infrastructure
investment will lend itself to township economy revival and planned
spatial restructuring, and form the pillars of government’s planned
intervention approach.
Together, the focus is on building and coordinating industries
into respective spaces or ‘corridors’. The five development corridors
across Gauteng will have distinct industries and different comparative
advantages, but still remain dependent on one another, operating as
a single body of mutual co-operation. As more people each year find
themselves migrating from rural areas into city nodes in search for
employment, management of urban dynamics by planning experts
and various stakeholders will ensure that citizens are positioned closer
to economic opportunity. The outcome; economic as well as social
inclusion across all corridors. This is in stark contrast to the apartheid
era, where rural residents were marginalised from the economic hubs.
Future policies around special planning will grapple with issues of
apartheid’s legacy, effectively reversing the negative aspects of urban
sprawl. In his speech, Gauteng Premier David Makhura urged on economic
empowerment, insisting, “We need deliberate and conscious
action by the entire city region leadership to reverse spatial injustice”
27 GAUTENG BUSINESS 2016