Amazon, a US eCommerce retail giant has announced that it would be opening its first African office in South Africa with a real estate investment of over R4 billion (about $280m).
The announcement is coming a week after Twitter, a US-based microblogging and social networking service announced the opening of its first-ever African office in Ghana.
Recall that the German government had similarly announced that a new German-West African Centre for Global Health and Pandemic Prevention will be located in Ghana.
Agency reports say that authorities in Cape Town noted that Amazon would be occupying a new development in River Club, a prime section of the city.
This new development is expected to create 5,239 jobs in the construction phase alone along with 19,000 indirect and induced jobs.
The 15-hectare parcel of land will cost R4 billion and include two precincts- the first precinct of 60,000sqm will occupy different layers of development; while the second section of 70,000 will house Amazon headquarters in Africa.
Cape Town city officials noted that “US retail giant, Amazon, will be the anchor tenant, opening a base of operations on the African continent. The development is envisaged to take place in phases, with construction set to take place over three to five years.
“It is clear that this development offers many economic, social and environmental benefits for the area. We are committed to driving investment to revitalize the economy, which is slowly recovering following the impact of Covid-19.”
The development design intends to create a 150,000 square metre mixed-use space, divided into commercial and housing uses across two precincts. The developer intends 31,900 square metres to be used for residential purposes.