This week, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, Alderman James Vos, visited the development site of a new clothing and textile distribution centre for Truworths International Limited which, once opened, will be the biggest of its kind in the Western Cape.
The centre is situated at King Air Industria, an industrial park near Cape Town International Airport.
‘This is indicative of the fact that Cape Town continues to experience a development boom thanks to the City’s mission to make the metro the easiest place in Africa to do business. In fact, according to a recent FNB report on commercial property owners’ motivations for development in a particular region, one of the most commonly cited reasons to relocate was the provision of reliable services,’ said Alderman Vos.
The new distribution centre, which is on track for development completion in November 2023, is a joint venture between King Air Industria and Truworths. King Air Industria is the development company of the industrial park which is a joint venture between Atterbury Property and Old Mutual Property. The new facility will house a warehouse of 50 000m and an office of 3 000m, totalling 53 000m, the equivalent of five-and-a-half rugby fields. Some 750 tons of steel were used for the construction, equal to 125 African elephants.
Gerrit van den Berg, Head of Western Cape Developments at Atterbury Property added that the development of the site was a dream made reality.
‘The development of this iconic warehouse, which forms part of the bigger King Air Industria of 280 000m, would simply not be possible without the support of the City and its officials. We are very grateful for the support that we are receiving from the City of Cape Town, as well as the hard work that is done behind the scenes by Alderman Vos and his team to grow the economy of Cape Town and particularly the airport and its surrounds. Our investment in King Air Industria and Truworths shows our commitment to contribute to the economy of this beautiful, well-run City,’ said Van Den Berg.
Alderman Vos said that Cape Town was the ideal location for the massive new distribution centre as the metro was the historic home of the clothing and textile industry.
‘In 2023, retailers are projected to source 368 million garments from the South African industry, supporting over 60 000 formal manufacturing jobs, of which the majority are women. Through the City’s partnership with and funding of the Cape Clothing and Textile Cluster, we drive strategic upgrading initiatives with representation across the value chain from retail through to SMMEs. For example, one of the Cluster’s projects, the Business Accelerator Programme, which assists small clothing and textile businesses in Cape Town to become suppliers to large retailers, resulted in the signing of new contracts worth millions of rands this past year,’ said Alderman Vos.
Source: City of Cape Town
