Amazon to set up African headquarters in Cape Town, South Africa

E-commerce tech giant Amazon will have an African base of operations in Cape Town, South Africa.

This comes after the City of Cape Town has given the green light for a new R14 billion development that will host Amazon’s new African headquarters.

The 15-hectare parcel of land has been approved for development by the Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust.

The development design intends to create a 150 000 sqm2 mixed-use space, divided into commercial and housing uses across two precincts. The developer intends 31 900 sqm2 to be used for residential purposes.

“The planned mixed-use development will be a significant boost to the economy and the people of Cape Town in the aftermath of the national Covid-19 lockdown. The City has carefully and thoroughly considered all of the submissions and concerns during the appeal process. We are acutely aware of the need to balance investment and job creation, along with heritage and planning considerations. It is clear that this development offers many economic, social and environmental benefits for the area. We are committed to driving investment to revitalise the economy, which is slowly recovering following the impact of Covid-19,’ said Executive Mayor Dan Plato.

Other parts of the development include:

– 59 600 sqm2 office space,

– 20 700 sqm2 retail space,

– 8200 sqm2 hotel,

– 4100 sqm2 gym, restaurants, conferencing, school and events space

The development of Precinct 1 includes mixed used and a floor space of approximately 60 000 sqm2. Precinct 2 will house the Amazon headquarters, which is 70 000 sqm2 of floor space. Construction is set to take place over three to five years

Amazon has Amazon Web Services (AWS) offices in the country but does not have a base of operations, so this new development not only be for Cape Town but for South Africa as a whole.

An African headquarters will not only mean more jobs but also ensure that you can get your favourite products online. It is believed that approximately 5 239 jobs will be created in the construction phase alone and the project will also create up to 19 000 indirect and induced jobs.