| 1. Sports and Events |
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The whole tourism sector in Potchefstroom is set to boom, especially in non-traditional tourism sectors such as sports, heritage, educational and cultural tourism. |
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Potchefstroom is called the home of Sport by the Prsedinet of the National Olympic Committee of South Africa, Mr Sam Ramsamy. Facilities are world-class and hundreds of athletes from across the world prefer Potchefstroom as their high-altitude training centre. |
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Special events, conferences and art festivals are increasing features on the local agenda. For instance the annual Aardklop National Arts festival attracts more than a 100 000 visitors to Potchefstroom annualy, and the Sanlam Auditorium at the Potchefstroom University hosts more than 250 events per year with an annual seating capacity of about 160 000. |
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| 2. Information and Communication Technology |
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The Information and Communication Technology sector is full of potential. |
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The City has declared its objective of being Africa's first CyberCity by 2010. |
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Partnerships with the local University offers excellent scope for R&D and offering IT services to the whole Africa. |
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The Potchefstroom University is a South African leader in telematic learning systems. |
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The high quality and easy availability of professional support services, educational facilities, business and office space and the close proximity to Gauteng makes Potchefstroom an ideal and intellectually stimulating environment for IT businesses within which to flourish. |
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| 3. Pharmaceutical & health Sector opportunities |
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The Pharmaceutical and health Sector is earmarked for rapid growth. |
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The pharmaceutical research and training facilities at the University is unique in the North of South Africa. |
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Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education (PU vir CHO) was the first university in South Africa to undertake the training of pharmacists (1942). |
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Potchefstroom is already home to a WHO accredited testing facility. |
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| 4. Food-processing industry |
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Potchefstroom has a growing food-processing industry, with significant expansion potential. |
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Potchefstroom is in the agricultural heartland of South Africa and at the cutting-edge of agricultural R&D and technological innovation in agriculture. |
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Examples include a soya protein manufacturer, cereal producer, brewery and fertiliser producers. |
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Downstream opportunities with respect to poultry, cattle, pigs and diary exist. |
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| 5. Diverse Value-added Manufacturing |
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The local University is owner of a large and growing number of patents (and of THRIP-awards by the CSIR) that the University is eager to commercialise. |
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Areas include amongst others composite materials, aviation, chemicals and plastics, pharmaceutical and other health care, and IT. |
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The existing airfield offers scope for aircraft maintenance, the manufacturing of gliders and related aircraft parts. The airfield was in use by the South African National Defence Force up to 1992. It has a tarred runway of 1489 meters and a gravel runway of 1416 meters. Visibility is regarded as exceptional at the airfield. A number of airshows have already been held at the field |
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| 6. Energy saving technology |
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The City Council of Potchefstroom is a leader in environmental conservation and environmental management in Africa. |
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We joined the Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) programme of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives in 2001. |
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We believe that there is a wide scope for the manufacturing of energy and environmentally friendly products, which can find commercial applications in for instance lightning, construction, water and waste management, ecological rehabilitation, etc. |
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| 7. Transport & Logistics |
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Potchefstroom has an important location along the N12 Highway, running from Johannesburg down to Cape Town and westwards towards Namibia and Botswana. As it a result is receives large volumes of through-traffic. |
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It is an important rail transport centre, especially for the transportation of bulk products related to the agriculture and mining sectors. |
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The airfield, of excellent design standards, offers unexploited potential for efficient and cost effective air cargo services. |
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Entrepreneurs in the transport and logistic service sectors are encouraged to investigate the market potential offered by Potchefstroom to provide various supply-chain services. |
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The need for break-bulk facilities, storage space and distribution centres due to the rapid growth of trade in Southern Africa offers exciting opportunities. |
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| 8. Urban Development & Housing |
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Potchefstroom is a dynamic city with growing needs for housing, entertainment and business premises. |
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Investment in property and buildings have been booming in recent years. |
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Given the City's long and eventful history, the many museums and heritage buildings, the 8km oak avenue and diverse cultures, there are exciting opportunities for creative developers. |
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| 9. Heritage Tourism |
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The N12 route from Johannesburg to Cape Town and Namibia runs through Potchefstroom. This so-called "Treasurer's Route" has been declared a Spatial Development Initiative (SDI). |
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Situated in the south west corner of Potchefstroom's Municipality boundary is the newly established Vredefort Dome Conservancy (VDC), earmarked as a potential World Heritage Site. This area is recognised by scientists as the oldest and largest visible meteorite impact site on the globe. The future development of the area offer many opportunities for profitable investment in a unique heritage site. |
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| 10. The Highveld National Park |
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Tourism to South Africa is growing on average by 10% per annum since 1994. |
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The North West provincial government has earmarked Potchefstroom and surrounding areas in its masterplan for tourism as a development node. |
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One of the exciting opportunities in this regard is the new "Highveld National Park", offering many investment opportunities in lodge development, construction, relocation of animals, marketing and management, etc. |
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The area for development lies in a triangle between the N12 Highway running from Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp, and Ikageng and Promosa. |
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