Cabinet has welcomed the service delivery visit to the N2 Nodal Project in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality in the Eastern Cape.
Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille and Minister in The Presidency Mondli Gungubele conducted an oversight visit to the project on Tuesday.
The project comprises 12 100 new housing opportunities with over 500 000 m² retail, commercial, office and industrial facilities, as well as the full spectrum of community and social facilities.
“The visit forms part of government’s initiative towards a more regular direct assessment of the progress made on the implementation of the Infrastructure Investment Plan to reignite the economy and create jobs,” said Cabinet in a statement on Thursday.
The N2 Nodal Development project is one of the 62 gazetted Strategic Integrated Projects and is an integrated mixed-use catalytic project located along the N2 in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape.
The visit formed part of De Lille’s duties to monitor progress of the 62 projects, which were gazetted as Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPs) as part of the Infrastructure Investment Plan approved by Cabinet on 27 May 2020.
“The project is exciting in that it will bring different housing typologies together and building integrated developments where people on various income streams can live in a well-located development close to transport arterials and economic development,” she said.
The N2 node has been identified and approved as a strategic development area for social and economic upliftment of the region and surrounding communities.
Minister Gungubele said the N2 project is a uniquely diverse and well-structured infrastructure project that includes residential, large-scale retail, light industrial and warehousing developments which will create much needed employment opportunities.
“Catalytic projects such as the N2 nodal development are of strategic importance because they have the potential to transform the spatial and social landscape of the local area and help stimulate the local economy,” Gungubele said.
The node comprises various property portions, centred around the super-regional Baywest Mall, located on the N2 national freeway.
Source: South African Government News Agency