South Africa casino construction to create 5,000 jobs

Emfuleni Resorts chairman Bongi Siwisa said the us$ 135.8 million construction programme was scheduled to start early next year. About 5000 construction jobs would be created during the two-year building programme.

An international-standard 3000m² convention centre, a 135-room hotel, additional retail space, a parking garage, additional retail, a health spa and the conversion of the present conference centre into a smoking casino are included in the plans.

Siwisa said Emfuleni was committed to using as many local suppliers as possible. The Boardwalk had exceeded its targets set in respect of the first licence period. “The Boardwalk is committed to sourcing a minimum of 65% from BBBEE suppliers, with 55% of goods and services sourced locally.”

This will be good news for the construction industry at a time when most of the major local projects, many of them associated with the 2010 Fifa World Cup, will have come to an end.
Work on the proposed multibillion rand PetroSA refinery in the Coega industrial development zone is expected to start only in 2011.

Cape Town-based Economics Information Services estimates that once the construction has been completed, the total jobs created and sustained by the new hotel, retail and convention centre, as well as by the annual festivals that will be supported by Emfuleni Resorts, will double from some 4300 this year to more than 8000 when the complex is fully operational. Construction is due to start early next year, with the new casino and convention centre scheduled for opening at the end of the year.

The hotel is due to open in 2011, with a multimedia lake, spectacular water fountain and tunnel-making a splash in the same year. Jobs that would have been lost had Emfuleni not secured the licence will be preserved at the Fish River Sun through subsidies expected to total more than us$ 38 million over the period of the licence.