Cape Town - The bidding process to develop prime city land on the Foreshore in exchange for infrastructure that will ease traffic congestion around the city’s unfinished highways and bridges, has officially begun.
The Foreshore Freeway Precinct consists of 6 hectares of land, 140m wide beneath the elevated freeways. In addition, Transport for Cape Town (TCT) has included three additional properties in its prospectus calling for proposals for the development of the Foreshore Freeway Precinct, as an option for interested bidders to include in their development plans.
Mayco member for transport, Brett Herron, said he was excited about the project, which provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for urban developers to address the city’s traffic problems and affordable housing needs.
“It provides both the city and the private sector the opportunity to collaborate on a scale that has never been seen in Cape Town before,” he said. “It has the potential to provide developers with a significant return on investment.”
It’s estimated that the market value of property in the Cape Town CBD will reach R31 billion by 2020.
Much of this value is directly related to the current and proposed development of the Foreshore area worth around R24bn - including a new Christiaan Barnard Hospital.
Proposals for developing the Foreshore precinct will have to elaborate on how to address the unfinished portions of the elevated freeway - whether to complete them in full or in part, to treat them differently or to demolish them.
The elevated freeway was proposed as part of a ring road concept in the early 1960s, but funding problems and a perceived lack of need for the freeways due to low traffic demand at that time never saw the central viaducts being completed.
Bidders can also include development plans for TCT’s maintenance depot in Ebenezer Street worth around R27 million, the MyCiTi bus depot in Prestwich Street which cost R92m to build and not recommended to be moved, as well as the Gallows Hill Traffic Centre valued at R41m.
The traffic department will either have to be moved to another suggested site, or included in the proposed development.
Prospective developers or development consortia will have to demonstrate that they will carry the total development risk and undertake all marketing within the proposed development.
Bidders have until December 8 to submit their proposals to the city, including unbranded models for public viewing and comment.
*The public can access the prospectus and a video clip on TCT’s website http://www.tct.gov.za
Cape Argus