In 2011 the Buffalo City Municipality attained metropolitan status, which subsequently led to a revising of the organisational structure to better align with the metro’s requirements. This resulted in the incorporation of BCMDA, with a new mandate. The primary mandate of the Buffalo City Metropolitan Development Agency is to: Attract investors to Buffalo City; Increase economic growth through tourism, economic and social development; Property management and commercialisation. The mandate was approved by the council on 11 December 2015 and can be summarised in the figure below: