Garden Route Invest - Garden Route Invest

Investment Opportunities

Regional renewable energy options that are sustainable and can significantly reduce reliance on fossil fuels have been identified. These projects include solar, thermal and photovoltaic electricity generation, wind electricity generation

Property Development Projects

The Garden Route District Municipality Student Housing proposal (SHP) focuses on the viability of developing municipality-owned undergraduate and postgraduate residential apartments and university staff residential estates.

Garden Route Special Economic Zone

A concept note for a specific, focused effort and drive to attract new investment to the Garden Route focusing primarily on the petrochemical (Mossel Bay) and agro-processing (George) industries.

Agro-Processing and Food Security

The Agricultural Policy Action Plan (APAP) identified revitalising fresh produce markets as a key output to address trade and market opportunities for SMMEs including smallholder farmers.

Sustainable Water and Sanitation Projects

The GRDM has prioritised improved water and sanitisation planning and is subsequently registered as a water service authority and water service provider.

Skills Development and Training Projects

The prime objective behind this project is to train 150 unemployed ex-staff in the Hospitality and Tourism industry in the Garden Route.

ICT Projects

Mossel Bay has a vibrant local economic development focus and several catalytic interventions are in the pipeline to stimulate and augment the local economy.

Tourism

Other tourism opportunities include festivals, such as the Knysna Speed Festival, the Timber Festival and Motor Show. Knysna also boasts some world-class golf courses (Simola Golf Course, Pezula Champion Golf Course and Knysna Golf Course)

Message by the Executive Mayor; Garden Route District Municipality, Alderman Memory Booysen

Growth and development is a key strategic pillar for the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) and the GRDM has therefore compiled a Garden Route Growth and Development Strategy (GRGDS) to facilitate development in the Garden Route district (GRD). Local Economic Development (LED) Departments in each municipality plays a pivotal role. LED is globally, but especially in developing countries, seen as the solution to improved quality of life, unemployment, poverty and inequality. Through a local economic development process, the GRDM seeks to empower local participants in order to effectively utilize business enterprise, labour, capital and other local resources to achieve local priorities, including promoting quality jobs, reducing poverty, stabilizing the local economy and generating municipal taxes to provide better services.

The result is that more and more local businesses are now geared and ready for South African, African and international investments. The GRDM Planning and Economic Development Department encourages the public, private and civil society sectors to establish partnerships and collaboratively find solutions to common economic challenges.

looking at all sectors of the economy and how they are interlinked to achieve socio-economic growth. In doing this, the GRDM is looking at achieving the following:

The attraction of both outward and inward investment
Investment in both hard and soft infrastructure
Making the business environment more conducive to business
A participatory approach to LED
Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs)
A move towards community-based LED.

The GRDM has developed this investment prospectus containing regional catalytic investment opportunities across the Garden Route. The purpose of the prospectus is to display the region’s investment-friendly climate and its economic activities and opportunities to the national and international business community and in so doing, attracting new investments and retaining and expanding existing investments in the Garden Route region. The prospectus includes the investment opportunities of all seven (7) municipalities within the boundaries of the region, as well as the District Municipality’s specific opportunities.

Alderman Memory Booysen
Executive Mayor