Black economic empowerment would be a central theme of investment and development in the Mandela Bay Development Agency‘s mandate area, agency chairman Sipho Pityana said on Friday.

He was speaking at the MBDA‘s property investors‘ conference at Summerstrand Inn.

“In all of these processes, as the agency, we are going to raise the bar on black economic empowerment, because this offers a fantastic opportunity for BEE participation,” he said.

“The challenge to investors and in the CBD is to take account of the opportunities in the new markets,” commented Ben Nyaumwe in a media statement.

Nyaumwe is MD of Auspec Properties, a local property developer.

“I share the MBDA‘s vision as to what this area can be. I‘ve seen other African cities that have their own African dynamic that works.”

Pityana said he expected a platform to be created via this process for the emergence of local black economic empowerment players.

“I think if we don‘t achieve that we will have failed seriously.

“We would want to create a platform to engage with local black economic empowerment players as an agency to define how we can work to pursue that.

“I hope that investors that are keen to participate in these projects will be deliberate and quite committed to providing and creating a platform for that.”

Nyaumwe commended the MBDA for cleaning up Central and increasing security in the area.

“A lot of retail business is coming back and I know of a few exciting developments coming to the area in the near future.

“The retail space on Govan Mbeki is at 100% occupancy and to get space is near impossible.”