Cape Town unlocks more premium land

The V&A Waterfront in Cape Town wishes to expand over 200 meters into Granger Bay, bringing thousands of job opportunities. Picture: iStock The fact that someone recently advertised a one-car garage for sale in a swanky Cape Town suburb for R2 million will tell you that, in the Mother City, land is at a premium. And it has been thus, basically, since 1652, when one Jan van Riebeeck appropriated it in the name of the Dutch East India company.

Yet, surprisingly, the usable land at the foot of the imposing Table Mountain was comparatively constrained. When the Castle was built in the late 17th century, the sea was almost lapping at the base of its walls. Now, it’s a few hundred metres from the Atlantic Ocean.

Massive engineering projects to reclaim land from the sea have changed the face of Cape Town over the centuries and the latest – to add a few hectares of new land to the V&A Waterfront – will do likewise. Reclamation isn’t a cheap process – which is probably why it is being done in the place which has a licence to print money. We doubt that precious reclaimed space would ever serve as something as tacky as a parking space.