Finance and Economic Opportunities

(a) What plans and/or agreements does the ASEZ have in place to transact with (i) investors and (ii) tenants,

Following National Treasury’s listing of the Atlantis Special Economic Zone Company (ASEZ Co) in December 2021 as a schedule 3D Public Entity, the Atlantis Special Economic Zone (ASEZ) is now able to fully contract with investors. It is expected that the ASEZ land will be transferred from the City of Cape Town to the ASEZ Co in the first half of the 2022/23 financial year, which will enable property contracting (leasing) with investors and tenants.

The ASEZ Co’s investment team cooperates with the Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone (SBIDZ), Wesgro, the City of Cape Town, GreenCape and the national InvestSA team through formal and informal agreements to engage investors in different countries and markets. These relationships ensure leveraging of resources towards attaining maximum impact while avoiding duplication in investment recruitment.

The ASEZ business development and commercial team have developed an investment recruitment plan that outlines their investment recruitment, processes and contracting approaches. Where an investor requires access to the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) fund of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTIC) for top structures, the ASEZ will facilitate and assist such investor in alignment with this plan and the SEZ Act.

The ASEZ has four pre-existing investors and seeks to secure two new investors through lease agreements in the 2022/23 financial year. One of these investors’ application for top-structure funding from the SEZ Fund is already with the DTIC for approval, the other is with the ASEZ Board for evaluation.

(b) What is the financial value and/or impact of these agreements,

Over the past financial year, the ASEZ Co has engaged with up to 30 interested parties in industries that includes renewable energy components and energy systems, advanced chemicals, waste management and re-use, as well as businesses exploring switching their production to a low carbon basis. At the top of its pipeline are 6 investments which, if realised, would amount to an estimated R1,4 billion, resulting in approximately 520 jobs over the next 3 years.

(c) What are the estimated timeline of each agreement

It is anticipated that the investments noted in (b) above will be realised over the next three years.

Lease agreements with investors are expected to range between 20 to 40 years, depending on the nature of the investment.

(d) what progress has there been to secure three additional investments for the SEZ

As noted above, the ASEZ Co currently has two investment applications that will be evaluated in Quarter 1 of 2022/23. A further three investors are finalising the financing of their projects, and it is expected that at least two of these investments will be landed in the 2022/23 financial year. This is in line with the targets set in the ASEZ Co’s Corporate Plan for this financial year of two investment projects realised and two leases signed.