Gauteng’s five development corridors

Each of the five corridors has distinct industries and comparative advantages. The Gauteng City Region is using land owned by government to earmark the locations of specific sectors and industries in the development corridors of our province as follows:

1 Central Development Corridor – Finance, services, ICT and pharmaceutical industries

The Central Development Corridor embraces much of Johannesburg and Soweto, and is the hub of finance, services, information and communication technology (ICT) and pharmaceutical industries.

Johannesburg’s competitive environment, with global high-tech companies and pharmaceutical industries, will continue to thrive under the continued efforts of the local and provincial government, as well as the private sector.

Major infrastructure developments by the City of Johannesburg, in partnership with the private sector, will transform the spatial landscape of the corridor. These include: Masingita City, Rietfontein, Waterfall City and the Modderfontein development.

Spatial innovations: Waterfall City. Picture: Lucky Nxumalo

2 Eastern Development Corridor – Manufacturing, logistics and transport industries

The Eastern Development Corridor, which embraces much of Ekurhuleni, includes 29 industrial initiatives under the banner of Aerotropolis to revitalise manufacturing, aviation, logistics and transport industries linked to OR Tambo International Airport.

Because of the interregional nature and transformative magnitude of Aerotropolis, this project has now been elevated to a Gauteng City Region-wide initiative.

The Tambo Springs inland port development will have an estimated R7.5 billion investment over five years. This project will create a total of 110 000 jobs over 15 years. Another development in this corridor is the Gibela train manufacturing plant, which is producing new trains for Prasa.

3 Northern Corridor – Automotive sector, research, development, innovation and the knowledge-based economy

The Northern Corridor is centred on Pretoria as both South Africa’s administrative capital and the country’s capital city. Its main economic drivers are the automotive sector and its research, development and innovation capacity. Along this vein, the West Capital development project will include the development of a student village, a sports incubatory centre, retail and commercial components, inner city housing and health facilities. The City of Tshwane will further invest R525 million to establish a Business Process Outsourcing Park in Hammanskraal. The park will offer on-site training, technical support and incubators for small, medium and micro-sized enterprises. The project is expected to create more than 1 000 jobs during construction and 1 000 indirect jobs.

4 Southern Corridor – Creation of new industries, new economic nodes and new cities

In the Southern Corridor, which represents the Sedibeng district and the Vaal Triangle, government’s goal is to shift the economy away from its overreliance on the steel industry and diversify to include tourism, entertainment, agroprocessing and logistics.

The development of the new Vaal River City (hydropolis) aims to unlock the potential of the waterfront developments in the Emfuleni and Midvaal areas; this is also the site of AB InBev’s investment. The second area of focus is to unlock the agricultural potential of Sedibeng as the food basket of the Gauteng City Region and position the region as an agropolis.

5 Western Corridor – Creation of new industries, new economic nodes and new cities

In the Western Corridor, the West Rand district has experienced significant deindustrialisation owing to the decline of the mining industry, which was the main employer and source of revenue for municipalities.

Thriving: Lanseria International Airport

The economy of the Western Corridor will focus on the green (energy, transport, agriculture and forestry) and blue (fisheries, maritime and coastal resources) economy initiatives, tourism, agroprocessing and logistics. The Lanseria Airport and Maropeng World Heritage Site will be the main anchors of the new city and new economy.

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