Nakheel Hotels and Resorts, a Dubai World company plans a whopping $1 billion investment in Cape Town's Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, which was acquired last month for $1 billion.The new investment will be made over the next four years to prepare the Waterfront to receive more visitors during the 2010 soccer World Cup that will be hosted by South Africa. A number of facilities will be added to Waterfront in three phases.

The development will be financed through bank loans and other options. However, the amount that will be raised through banks was kept undisclosed. Nakheel plans to raise funds for the site from the World Cup marketing campaign that will bring millions of extra tourists to South Africa before and after the event.

It is estimated half million people will visit South Africa for the World Cup. Two luxury hotels and one budget hotel will be among the facilities being built as part of the new development. The masterplan for the development has been created by project management firm WS Atkins and Partners Overseas.The V&A Waterfront contains 603,000 square metres of approved bulk development rights, of which 45 per cent remains to be developed.