A Chinese firm named Shanghai Zendai plans to build a mini city in Johannesburg on the 1 600ha of land and buildings it bought from explosives company AECI for R1 billion. Shanghai Zendai say that their development will be the future centre of Johannesburg.

ENSafrica, who represented Shanghai Zendai in the deal, said in a statement on Tuesday that the deal will see the Chinese firm invest approximately R80 billion in the project, creating approximately 24,000 direct jobs over the next 10 to 15 years.

According to ENSafrica Shanghai Zendai wants to develop the land for seven purposes.

* Finance and trade
* Industrial zone (light industry – warehousing, manufacturing)
* Convention centre
* African heritage theme park
* Education and training (skills transfer)
* Sports and recreation
* Community (planning for 30 to 35K families to live there)

Here’s a map of the land sold byAECI.

[Source : Bloomberg]