Cape Town’s biggest civil engineering project for this century will require the removal of 351,000 tonnes of rock to expand the V&A Waterfront towards Granger Bay.
Once completed in about 15 years’ time, at its earliest possible finalisation date, the R24bn construction project would have reclaimed 3.2 hectares of land from the sea in Table Bay.
In total the project comprises 11.76 hectares, requiring significant rock quarrying, primarily from Dorstberg and other quarries in Cape Town’s far northern peri-urban area.
It is anticipated that 35 truck loads of 20 tonnes per trip will be required every day, amounting to about 16 700 loads in total.
At least four to six truck loads an hour, totalling about 35 trips per day, will head from the quarries to the construction site via Contermans Kloof, the N7, N1, Buitengracht Street, Helen Suzman Boulevard, and Granger Bay Boulevard along the DHL Cape Town Stadium.
Once completed, the Granger Bay expansion will entail an eastern and western breakwater of respectively 140 metres and 90m long.
It will also include a 540m coastal walkway link with the existing Sea Point promenade.
The two breakwaters will be connected by a sea wall or revetment of more than a kilometre in length.
South Africa’s fastest growing city, which is already buckling under significant traffic build-up due to an domestic influx from across the country, will limit quarry deliveries to off-peak hours to even out traffic flow.
Although there is no definitive commencement date, the project will create 5 100 permanent jobs and is expected to start some time this year when work begins on the existing eastern breakwater at the InterContinental Table Bay Cape Town Hotel.
The initial extension is excluded from environmental impact assessments, including pre-approvals and final approvals by Willie Aucamp, the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment in the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning.
These are expected by mid-2027 latest.
