Cancelling RFP does not mean the Foreshore project is cancelled
LAST week the City Manager informed me that the formal Request for Proposals (RFP) for the future of the Foreshore Freeway Precinct was to be cancelled following consideration of the appeals against the identification of one qualifying bidder.
The City Manager, as the appeal authority, cancelled the RFP based on the appeals he received and after taking legal advice.
In July 2016 we launched the Request for Proposals for the future development of the Foreshore Freeway Precinct. The commencement of a formal process to address the unfinished freeways, and the future development of the 6-hectare precinct, followed decades of uncertainty and inaction.
Growing traffic volumes in and out of the city centre have resulted in intolerable congestion which needs to be addressed. The 6ha of prime City-owned land, sterilised by the uncertain future of the unfinished freeways, presented an opportunity for traffic congestion to be addressed without burdening the ratepayers with the costs of what was always viewed as unaffordable infrastructure.
The land also presented an opportunity for us to deliver on one of our key pillars – building an inclusive city – by ensuring that affordable housing was included in any development proposal.
Our approach to addressing traffic congestion and the need for innercity affordable housing was unique and innovative and we were excited to receive six compelling and innovative proposals. We are extremely grateful to the bidders for their proposals and their efforts.
It is disappointing that our first attempt did not work out. However, the cancellation of the RFP does not mean that the project is cancelled. The need to address the future of the unfinished freeways remains. So too does the need ensure access to affordable housing in our city centre.
The 6ha Foreshore Freeway Precinct is the last remaining undeveloped land in our inner city and the response to our RFP demonstrates a market appetite to develop this land even with the conditions we imposed: 1. Address traffic congestion. 2. Include affordable housing. 3. Deal with apartheid spatial planning.
4. Ensure integration of different communities and income levels and establish inclusive communities as committed to in the DA’s national manifesto.
5. Provide inclusive spaces to be funded by partnerships with private sponsors and leveraging City assets and optimisation of these assets to drive economic benefits for the City in line with the DA’s manifesto for Cape Town.
6. Leveraging City-owned land to address service delivery needs is consistent with our Integrated Development Plan. The City Manager has agreed that the RFP will be redrafted to address concerns raised during the appeal process and reissued. A project team has already been assembled to ensure this can happen as soon as possible.
I wish to thank the developers who participated in our first RFP. I trust they will understand that in trying something innovative and unique we had no precedent to reply upon and I hope they will be in a position to participate again when the new RFP is issued. Patricia de Lille Executive Mayor