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Cape Town will resemble Dubai from next year as the V&A Waterfront embarks on a R20 billion land reclamation project.

The development, which will probably ruin traffic around the area for the next 15 to 20 years, will extend the iconic waterfront by creating an additional 440,000 square meters of new land in the Granger Bay precinct.

Once the considerable amount of dust eventually settles, the Waterfront’s footprint will be increased by over 50%. Honestly, we can do with a bit more room in Cape Town, so locals will have to learn to love the beep-beep-beep of reversing dump trucks.

The area, currently home to local favourites like the Oceana Power Boat Club and Oranjezicht City Farm Market, will see the addition of mixed-use developments, including residential, retail, hotel, and cultural spaces, as well as public amenities like a coastal promenade and a protected bay for water activities.

The development also includes a public walkway designed to connect the City Centre with Mouille Point. This walkway will integrate flawlessly with the existing Atlantic Seaboard promenade, creating a “pedestrian-friendly environment that encourages social interaction”.

The project aims to build on Cape Town’s history of land reclamation, which includes the epic 1947 Foreshore Plan that led to the old-timers moving the Cape Town shoreline 1.6 kilometres into the ocean and adding 194 hectares of land for the city’s economic and urban expansion.

In 1910 the sea stood 300 m from the Castle walls, today the area is home to the Artscape, CTICC, and a super-efficient Takealot pickup spot. Quite impressive if you think about it.

The development is expected to boost the Western Cape’s economy by 2% and create approximately 28,000 jobs in construction, tourism, and retail alone, not to mention enhancing the city’s appeal as a global tourist destination.

Aiming to ‘maintain their cultural and community significance within the Waterfront’s vision for a modern, inclusive space’, both the Oranjezicht Market and Oceana Power Boat Club will be integrated into the new layout, so don’t worry about your weekend outings.

By reclaiming land from the sea, the V&A Waterfront is not merely extending its physical boundaries but also redefining what it means to be a world-class coastal city.

With the necessary environmental impact studies commissioned to ensure the project’s sustainability and coastal protection measures to guard against rising sea levels and severe weather taken into account, it seems all systems go to make the Mother City circle bigger.

[source:businesstech]