American e-commerce giant, Amazon, is set to build its new African Headquarters in Cape Town, South Africa.
The new structure will be based at the controversial R4 billion River Club area, which has just got a conditional go-ahead for mixed-use development by the Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust – the owner of the land to be used.
Once the construction, which will reportedly occupy a 15-hectare parcel of land, commences, it is expected to boost the city’s economy and create thousands of jobs at different phases of the project.
According to a source familiar with the developing story, over 5,239 jobs will be created at the construction phase, while up to 19,000 indirect and direct jobs will be created at the operational stage.
While the R4 billion River Club area will not be solely occupied by the Amazon complex alone, it will also accommodate other businesses.
Specifically, the development design will reportedly create 150,000 square meters of mixed-use space.
This, according to the report, will be divided into commercial and housing uses across two precincts.
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“The River Club development will feature 59,600 square meters of office space, 20,700 square meters of retail space, an 8,200 square meter hotel, and a 4,100 square meter gym,” the source revealed.
Giving the complexity of the nature of the intended construction, the land development will progress at different phases; hence, construction will take place over the next three to five years.
Speaking on the latest development, Cape Town Executive Mayor, Dan Plato, commented that the new River Club development offers many potentials cutting across economic, environmental and social benefits for the area.
“We are committed to driving investment to revitalize the economy, which is slowly recovering following the impact of COVID-19,” Plato said.
Another missed opportunity for Nigeria
About a week ago, Twitter announced its plans to launch its first Africa presence in Ghana, which triggered many reactions and questions from Nigerians.
Most of the questions asked by Nigerians had to do with the choice of the location, which brought a fallback to the policy of the Nigerian government. (click here to learn more about the story)
Now, while Nigerians are still on the verge of accepting the new reality, the latest announcement by Amazon further raises more questions as to what Nigeria needs to do differently moving forward.
While we won’t be dwelling so much on the above discussion, we will only analyse the obvious opportunity briefly that Nigeria as a whole just missed out.
Although, no specific amount has been declared for the new construction that will be taking place in Cape Town.
However, judging from the 3D impression of the proposed River Club development (as seen below), the project will run into millions of US Dollars or, in Nigeria, billions of Naira.
Aside from the financial impact, the construction would have on Nigeria’s economy, creating over 25,000 jobs for indigenes would have helped significantly.
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At least, it will help reduce the current unemployment rate, which recently rose to about 33% to mark the second-highest on the global list.
While more opportunities will be directed to the Africa region in the future, the Nigerian government to attract more mega direct investments into the country.
The following images are the 3D impression of the proposed River Club development;
Source: Businesstech
Source: Businesstech
Businesstech
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