Senedd hears Swansea Bay city deal ‘well on its way'
Rob Stewart said six projects had been completed – to a value of £210m – by the end of 2024/25 as part of the £1.3bn Swansea Bay city deal, which was signed in 2017.
Cllr Stewart, who chairs the Swansea Bay city region joint committee, told the Senedd's economy committee a further 19 projects, valued at £761m, are in the pipeline.
The leader of Swansea council pointed to 'significant progress' in moving projects from the feasibility stage to completion, with the 71/72 Kingsway project in Swansea set to open.
He stressed the Swansea deal had very different terms and conditions to the Cardiff capital region city deal, which was agreed with a different UK Government.
The Labour politician said 896 jobs have been created so far – against an initial target of 9,700 – and the city deal has leveraged £133m of private-sector investment.
Pressed about jobs numbers, Cllr Stewart said councils had to jump through a lot of hoops, which took a long time, and the job creation numbers have started to accelerate. He was hopeful of hitting or even exceeding the 9,700 target.
Giving evidence on June 26, he told the committee that Pembroke Dock infrastructure upgrades and Trinity Saint David's 'innovation matrix' building have been completed.
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