The City of Johannesburg (CoJ) will offer special rebates to property developers undertaking new building developments in earmarked areas across the city in a bid to grow the economy and create jobs.
The CoJ recently implemented the new 2017/18 Property Rates Policy, in which the city encourages property developers and businesses to take full advantage of the special rebates for new building developments, which should be built along the identified areas in line with the approved Strategic Area Frameworks, CoJ spokesperson Kgamanyane Maphologela said.
“To encourage developers to build new developments in the identified strategic areas, the city has created a special category of incentive to give developers a rebate holiday for at least three years,” Maphologela noted in a statement issued on Wednesday.
The city’s Spatial Development Framework defines the strategic spatial areas to be used in the city’s capital investment prioritisation model. This will ensure that infrastructure investment is directed to areas with the highest potential to positively impact on development.
For the 2017/18 Property Rates Policy, the rebates state that the property owner will pay 25% of the rate as per the category of land for a period not exceeding two years during the construction phase.
After construction, the property owner will pay half the rate on the first year of operation as per the category of land. From the second year of operation and onwards, the property owner will pay the full rates as per the category of property.
PUBLIC TRANSIT ROUTES PRIORITISED
The new building developments set to receive rebates should occur along developments such as the transit-oriented development nodes linking Soweto, through the inner city, to Sandton and that run along the Empire, Perth and Louis Botha avenues and linking Turffontein to the inner city.
The transit-oriented development nodes include the Gautrain and the bus-rapid transit Rea Vaya system.
The detailed qualifying criteria for the rebates will be provided by the City’s Department of Development Planning (DDP) in line with the approved policy.
According to the requirements, the developments must be in line with the development requirements set out by the city. The proposed development must also follow all planning bylaws and the developer must apply to the DDP for approval of the project.
Once the project is approved by the DDP, the Property Unit will process the rebate.