Bridge City beginning to take shape in transport network
THE CONSTRUCTION of the Bridge City, north of Durban, a joint venture public-private sector partnership between the eThekwini Municipality and Tongaat Hulett, is gaining momentum.
The 17 hectare Bridge City Industrial Business Estate is located 23km from the King Shaka International Airport and 17km from the Durban port.
Bridge City has also been identified as a key node in the much anticipated R20 billion Integrated Rapid Public Transport Network that is founded on the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system, which was announced by the eThekwini Municipality a few months ago.
This public transport network will integrate bus, rail and taxi transportation, providing reliable and affordable transport that will benefit residents, workers and businesses.
Transport routes will be easily accessible from all areas of Bridge City. The new integrated system aims to link nine transport corridors across various modes of transport. The intermodal system is also expected to serve 1 000 000 commuters per day once fully developed in 2027. The BRT line to Pinetown (currently under construction and due for completion at the end of this year) and a third linking to Cornubia and Umhlanga and another ultimately to the King Shaka Airport will ensure that Bridge City becomes a hub of Durban’s public transport connectivity in the near future.
Connectivity Tongaat Hulett does not build homes or developments but owns large parts of prime land that are suitable for development and it will partner developers.
The sugar conglomerate has a substantial land portfolio from its ongoing activities in agriculture that incorporates roughly 8 000 hectares of land within the primary growth corridors of KwaZulu-Natal.
Brian Ive, a development executive at Tongaat, said: “We believe that infrastructure delivery is key and will go a long way to establishing Bridge City as a centre of excellence in an area that was previously under serviced.”
He said 70 percent of the mixed-use residential, business and commercial site area had already been sold and he expected all the plots to be sold by 2019.
Ive said the holistic planning of the area catered for each of these crucial elements and was expected to make a significant contribution to providing employment in the communities like neighbouring Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu area.
Bridge City will also accommodate medical, commercial, retail and residential elements.
Shunnon Tulsiram, the head of the municipality’s Economic Development and Investment Production Unit, said businesses would be located in areas that would provide business opportunities.
Small businesses that plan to open will vary from IT companies to manufacturing businesses and small start-ups.