Pretoria - The Rosslyn Hub has another development unfolding towards a vision shared by the government and the automotive industry to transform the precinct into Africa’s leading investment destination in the sector.
This was displayed yesterday when Eris Property Group and the Rosslyn Hub Development Company showcased the commenced construction on a state-of-the-art 25 000m² manufacturing facility for YFPO, a key BMW supplier.
YFPO is a joint venture between Plastic Omnium, a French automotive company, and Yanfeng, a Chinese automotive company. The company operates 27 plants and employs more than 4 700 people, but this is its first investment in Africa, where it will be supplying the BMW plant in Rosslyn.
Economic Development, Agriculture, Environment, and Rural Development MEC Parks Tau and Tshwane mayoral committee member for economic development and partial planning, André le Roux, were invited to the sod-turning ceremony that will see the people of the capital city benefit from employment and business opportunities.
The developers said the building would be as large as four football fields – a significant investment and a major vote of confidence in the South African and African automotive sectors, specifically in Tshwane and the Rosslyn Hub.
The development of the Rosslyn Hub was launched a few years ago as a crucial step towards the creation of the Tshwane Auto City. The Auto City is a R50 billion project funded by private sector investment and could be a blueprint of how to develop Africa’s future Smart Cities in a sustainable way.
Director of Rosslyn Hub, Brendan Falkson, said it was envisioned that Rosslyn, already home to BMW, Nissan, Iveco and Tata along with an array of automotive suppliers, will emulate well-established automotive cities like those in Spain, China, Germany and Japan. He said this would create a second CBD northwest of Tshwane and on the doorstep of Ga-Rankuwa and Soshanguve, anchored by a labour-intensive automotive manufacturing core to enable workers to be within walking distance of their residences.
The YFPO building will be owned and developed by Eris Property Group, one of South Africa’s largest property developers.
Pieter Gouws, development manager at Eris, said the project was subject to extremely tight deadlines to achieve BMW’s manufacturing timelines. As such, the project was receiving high-level facilitation support from both the Automotive Industry Development Centre and the City of Tshwane.
“We are excited to develop this state-of-the-art building for YFPO and to contribute to the increase of foreign direct investment and job creation in South Africa, specifically the City of Tshwane,” Gouws said.
The Tshwane Automotive City master plan identified the key road infrastructure required to unlock the development. One of these is the extension of Tungsten Road built by Rosslyn Hub, with this YFPO building. For the first time, entry level workers will be able to live within walking distance of their work.
Pretoria News