Bellville CBD is an implementation priority of its the City of Cape Town’s Catalytic Land Development Programme. Under this programme, the City aims to facilitate the area’s regeneration by maximising significant public investment in Bellville. This investment will lead to improvements in the public realm, social, economic and mobility infrastructure, and the improved management of the CBD. These improvements are designed to improve the area’s attractiveness and attract greater private investment to build on Bellville’s unique strengths and competitive advantages.
Among these advantages is Bellville’s wealth of corporate entities clustered within and around the Bellville CBD. This offers a unique opportunity for the City to build partnerships and promote the establishment of an Innovation District in Cape Town as a lever to achieve the City’s short, medium and long-term vision for Bellville as a commercially competitive city.
With this goal in mind, the City has begun to implement a programme of short-term urban management interventions aimed at addressing problems associated with areas characterised by high levels of crime and grime. As the City’s implementing agent, the GTP is ideally positioned to deliver these targeted interventions.
On 1 March 2021, the Executive Mayor, Dan Plato, announced the establishment of a forum designed to facilitate a dialogue between the City of Cape Town and senior leadership of corporate entities in Bellville. A matching engagement with Bellville’s higher education institutions was launched under the Higher Education Forum.
The Bellville CEO Forum provides a platform for collaboration, discussion and action, to explore issues of mutual interest, and ultimately align opportunities towards realising the City’s vision of a vibrant, active and safe, Bellville Future City.
The purpose of the Bellville CEO Forum is to: –
- Serve as a platform for dialogue and collaboration between the City and business interests in Bellville
- Promote the regeneration of Bellville via the establishment of an ‘Innovation District’ that directs infrastructure investment into the Bellville CBD, enhancing its attractiveness for commercial activities
- Share information on matters of mutual interest
- Provide a platform for strategic engagement to address areas of conflict, duplication and/ or explore opportunities for synergy and integration
- Drive the resolution of issues common to more than one institution
- Provide the institutions with a platform through which collaboration on developmental issues with the City is made possible.
Meetings are held on a quarterly basis, with an invited group of senior executives from large and medium-sized firms in Bellville.
