Calls for greater public access and a wider use
of Cape Town's historic harbour started in the early 1970's. In 1988, the
then
landowner (State-owned
transport
corporation, Transnet Limited) established a wholly owned subsidiary company,
Victoria & Alfred Waterfront (Pty) Limited, to redevelop the historic
docklands. This was received with large-scale public acclaim. Since its origins
in 1860, the Port of Cape Town has been the scene of excavations, reclamations,
harbour construction programmes and land based developments.
By the time Prince Alfred (Prince Alfred was Queen Victoria's second son)
tipped the first load of stone into the sea to initiate construction of Cape
Town's
harbour, the trade routes to the East
had transformed the city into a hive of seafront activity. The discovery of
gold and diamonds in South Africa meant that the first section of harbour,
the Alfred Basin, had to be added to and the Victoria Basin was built.
The construction of the two harbour basins took place between 1860 and 1920,
and the area is notable for its outstanding heritage buildings. It retains
the charm of Victorian industrial architecture and the scale of a harbour built
for sail and the early days of steam travel.
In the 1970s, containerisation had developed worldwide as the major method
of cargo handling and transportation. It was this, together with South Africa's
economic isolation at the time and the reopening of the Suez Canal, that led
to a sharp reduction in the utilisation of land and harbour facilities surrounding
the Victoria & Alfred Basins. At the time, Transnet was in the process
of rationalising harbour facilities and reviewing its harbour and other land
holdings with particular emphasis on the returns being generated by these assets.
Over the past 140 years, the harbour has undergone numerous changes, which
continue even today with the redevelopment of land and buildings surrounding
the original Victoria & Alfred Basins. The Victoria & Alfred Waterfront project is the culmination of nearly three decades of planning and development
proposals.
