Plans to open Amazon’s headquarters in South Africa has been concluded, with a real estate investment of over R4 billion.
South African authorities had notified Amazon, to occupy a new development in River Club, Cape Town, a prime section of the city.
The cost of the 15 hectre parcel of land is R4 billion and includes two precincts. Authorities said the following is 1st precinct of 60,000sqm, would occupy different layers of development; while the second section of 70,000, will hold Amazon headquarters in Africa.
Cape Town city officials in a statement said, “US retail giant will be the anchor tenant, opening a base of operations on the African continent. The development is envisaged to take place in phases with construction set to take place over three to five years.”
Business Tech reports, that over 5000 direct construction jobs, and 19,000 direct jobs are expected to be created due to the move.
Amazon has had its web engineering giant AWS in South Africa for years, but it’s main e-commerce service have not been available anywhere in the continent.
Subsequently, the announcement comes a week after Twitter picked Ghana, for its first African office and headquarters. Twitter said Ghana’s democratic and economic strides made the West African country a highly competitive destination over Nigeria and other countries.
It was not clear whether Amazon considered Nigeria and similar parameters like Twitter, while deciding its African base.
Ijeoma Njoku reporting, Obinwannem News
