New fresh produce market for Cape Flats.

A new fresh produce market is under construction at Philippi East on the Cape Flats south east of the city centre as part of a strategy to boost economic growth in one of the most depressed areas of the city. The Philippi Fruit and Vegetable Market near the new Joe Gqabi Station Transport Interchange on the corners of Market Street and Stock Road will consist of a main sales hall for wholesalers and additional smaller rooms for retailers and hawkers. There will also be a packaging house, a dairy outlet, processing facilities, a composting plant, a seedling nursery and a banana ripening centre. It is being funded by the City of Cape Town and Western Cape provincial governments and private sector companies to a total cost of 75 million rand.

The market is expected to create dozens of permanent on-site jobs as well as stimulating the emerging local farming sector. Planners hope to see at least 2,500 rural families become actively and sustainably involved in the production of mainly cash crops for the market over the next five years. Given its strategic location close to the N2 and R300 freeways and within easy reach of the international airport there are also plans to link the facility with other district markets in South Africa and Mozambique to ensure a good supply of fresh produce all year round.