Court Crescent development inches forward
Despite promises made by the Buffalo City Metro Development Agency (BCMDA) to finish phase one of the Court Crescent development by December, the project is still inching forward.
On Friday morning, the site was occupied by TLBs lifting soil and a water truck watering the graded soil. This area is earmarked for an open-air theatre and other attractions.
A new section of road on Court Crescent has been tarred with parking bays provided. The bottom of Moore Street onto John Bailie Road is tarred, with an incomplete island created.
Both sections of road are not open for use yet.
The Dispatch has taken photographs of the project over the space of a few weeks and it shows little progress.
Esplanade Street is closed and only the pavement has access for pedestrians wanting to reach the Eastern Beach side. The street light poles which were white have now been painted black.
Fitzpatrick Road of the sleeper site is now open with a speed hump, one stop and one yield sign. Panmure Place continues to have a stop sign.
When the Dispatch visited the area on April 29, little was being done in the morning and there were no TLBs at work. Though some grading had been done at the bottom of Moore Street, there did not appear to be much of a hurry despite the development being behind on timelines.
In February, BCMDA spokesperson Oyama Makalima said they were cautiously optimistic about completing the phase of work by the end of that month.
Previously, he had said delays in the project were caused by rainy weather.
On Friday, Makalima said phase one and two of the roadworks had been completed.
“These include the Esplanade and Aquarium Roads section, the area in front of Virgin Active and the Hotel Osner. Moore Street and John Bailie Road, which is the area in front of the Garden Court, has also been completed,” he said.
“This [Moore Street and John Bailie Road] was the most difficult part of the road construction phase of the project, especially the corner where to two roads meet.
“We had taken to calling it the ‘devil’s armpit’ given the number of challenges we experienced in it, including flooding.
“We are now left with the last part of the road construction programme [phase three] which will see the construction of a traffic circle in front of the Windmill and Lighthouse Spar turn. There will be partial resurfacing of a small portion of Moore Street in front of the Windmill.”
Kat Leisure Group operations manager Russell Osner said the group was optimistic about the completion of the development.
He said: “Yes, it has had an impact on limited access to the hotel. We are, however, upbeat and look forward to the outcome.
“This is a positive development which can have a big tourism and hospitality spin-off.”
Makalima said: “The open-air theatre will provide an excellent space for the hosting of live quality shows, so event organisers stand a chance to greatly benefit.
“Businesses located right in front of the precinct will be able to benefit from the increased numbers in footfall. We have good relations with business and share a common vision for the development of the precinct. It is fair to say that the delays in the completion of the roadworks have placed some strain on the relationship.”
According to Makalima, the new completion date for the development was Easter 2022.
“We anticipate that the entire project, including roadworks and the park, will be completed before Easter next year.”
In October 2020, the roadworks affected businesses in the area.
Spar manager Nomakhaya Lobese said since the roads had been closed business was slow.
“People no longer come to the beach. They used to cross through Moore Street when they went to Nahoon.
“Now they use other roads,”
Lobese said.
She said she hoped the deadline for the transformation would not be missed.
“It [roads closures] affects us in a negative way. We are inconvenienced because few people travel in this direction. This used to be a busy road with people stopping on their way home from work,” she said.
“As you see, we now sit here doing nothing. It’s quiet. We have a big parking lot but it’s always empty.
“We hope by January or February it will be a different situation. At least they should finish one road to allow traffic to flow,” she said.