The City of Cape Town’s Council has approved the public participation process for the proposed sale of its 72.7% shareholding in the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC).

The municipality says that it envisages the proceeds to be invested in service delivery and that the private sector would be able to unlock the growth and commercial potential of the asset which will remain a convention centre, with the land to remain City-owned.

With a desktop valuation of approximately R885 million (exclusive of VAT), the City says the asset has created more than 169 000 jobs, having contributed R58 billion to the Western Cape’s Gross Geographic Product (GGP) and added R66.9 billion to SA’s GDP to date.

Details of the public participation period and relevant information will be made available in due course, says the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Finance, Councillor Siseko Mbandezi. “This is an exploratory process, and Council will take a final decision on this matter after the public participation process, and the inputs have been concluded.”

The current shareholding structure of the CTICC is the City of Cape Town (72.7%), Western Cape Government (22.2%) and Sunwest International (Pty) Ltd. (5.1%).