“Rejuvenation of the inner city a key priority for the new administration”

“Growth in employment opportunities can only come about in the City if we transform the inner city, which has long been neglected; both the inhabitants and building infrastructure. To do this we must also work within the private sector to fix our infrastructure, generate jobs and achieve higher levels of service delivery.” This is according to the Honourable Herman Mashaba, the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, who will deliver the keynote address during the opening session of the African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit.The award-winning event takes place in Sandton from 25-26 October and will gather leading built environment and property professionals, architects, project developers, investors, town planners, and city and municipal managers from all over the continent to focus on “Developing Future African Cities”.

According to the Executive Mayor, “the rejuvenation of the inner city is a key priority for the new administration. Last week, the City’s Council approved our plan for tackling the housing challenge within the city. The plan seeks to create safe, clean and connected communities with access to economic opportunities.”He continues: “the Council has done this by making 12 City-owned properties available for the purpose of creating quality low-income housing within the inner city. Through our plan, we are set to make the inner city housing market work better for the poor. Public-Private partnerships are crucial to our approach.”

Transport infrastructure
With regards to the main challenges the City is facing with regards to its transport infrastructure, Mayor Mashaba says “making the City more business friendly, creating employment and stimulating our economy, requires that we address the longstanding R5.8-billion backlog in repairs and maintenance of our road and transport infrastructure. Through our budget, we provided an operating budget of R1.1 billion in the 2017/18 financial year, and a three-year capital budget of R4 billion in funding to the City’s Road Agency, the Johannesburg Roads Agency.”For the complete interview with the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, go to http://www.african-real-estate-summit.com/HermanMashaba-interview

The Africa Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit will also feature these experts on the programme:

• Brett Herron: Mayoral Committee member for Cape Town’s Transport and Urban Development Authority (TDA)
• Henk Boogertman, Architectural Director: Menlyn Maine Investment Holdings
• Jodi Allemeier, Programme Lead: Western Cape Economic Development Partnership
• Sizwe Mxobo, Project Co-ordinator: Development Action Group
• Kecia Rust, Executive Director and Founder: Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa
• Douglas Cohen, Executive Manager for Planning and Strategy: Johannesburg Development Agency
• Abbas Jamie, Director of Innovation and Transformation, Africa: Aurecon Group
• Mugendi K M'Rithaa, Industrial Designer: Cape Peninsula University of Technology
• Dennis Papa Odenyi Quansah, Consultant, Edge Africa Implementation/IFC
• Simon Ardonceau, Head of Strategic Consulting: JLL Sub-Saharan Africa

Leading African cities that have been invited to showcase their major infrastructure and building projects and opportunities in October at African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit include: Abuja, Nigeria; Cape Town, South Africa; Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania; Johannesburg, South Africa; Kampala, Uganda; Lagos, Nigeria; Nairobi, Kenya; Harare, Zimbabwe and Kinshasa, DRC.

Property Buyer Show
During the same week as African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit, the Property Buyer Show also comes to Gauteng from 27-29 October at the Sandton International Convention Centre. The Property Buyer Show, which took place for the first time in Cape Town in April this year, is a unique format exhibition aimed at first-time residential property buyers or real estate investors. The innovative exhibition layout is designed to walk buyers through the property buying process.

The African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit was voted Africa's best Confex (half conference, half exhibition) earlier this year by the AAXO ROAR event industry awards. The summit and the Property Buyer Show are organised by the multi award-winning Spintelligent, well known for organising exhibitions and conferences across the continent in the infrastructure, energy, mining, agriculture and education sectors. Longstanding flagship events by Spintelligent include African Utility Week, Future Energy Nigeria (formerly WAPIC), Future Energy East Africa (formerly WAPIC), Agritech Expo Zambia, DRC Mining Week and EduWeek. Spintelligent is part of Clarion Events Ltd, based in the UK.

Dates and location

• African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit: 25-26 October 2017
• Property Buyer Show conference: 27 October 2017
• Property Buyer Show expo: 28-29 October 2017
• Location: Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa

Websites: http://www.african-real-estate-summit.com/ & http://www.propertybuyershow.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ARES_Summit & https://twitter.com/propertyshowsa
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8518271Media contact:

Senior communications manager:  Annemarie Roodbol
Telephone:  +27 21 700 3558
Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.