Commonwealth Games to galvanise Durban’s renewal
AS Durban prepares to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games, its central business district should be prepared to host the world in a clean and more cosmopolitan city.
With mega-projects estimated to cost about R35-billion, the eThekwini municipality has seven years to give the city a facelift that will put it in the same ranks as Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Sadha Naidoo, the chairman of Tourism KwaZulu-Natal, believes the preparations for the games will give the city an opportunity to look at ways to enhance its appearance.
“This event will need to create a legacy from now to 2022, and one of the legacies would be people development as well as city development, which must include an urban regeneration plan.”
Naidoo said urban regeneration should be a critical factor as visitors would want to enjoy what the city has to offer.
Although Durban lags behind its peers, it is slowly embracing pockets of change in the way that its CBD is perceived. The municipality has for years prioritised the revitalisation of the inner city.
However, its plans to get some projects off the ground have stalled because not all stakeholders had been consulted.
The city’s renewed interest in the Point Precinct has tongues wagging about Durban becoming another skyscraper city. The city has forged a partnership with a Malaysian developer, UEM Sunrise.
A technical steering committee has been set up and a plan crafted that will form the basis for the development of 750 000m2 of mixed-use commercial and residential development. This is a R15-billion investment over five to 10 years, according to the municipality’s economic development and growth report earlier in the year.
In eThekwini’s integrated development plans draft report, the Point Precinct might get a three-storey, world-class cruise ship passenger terminal building and a six-storey terminal administrative building fully operational by September next year.
Both these projects, to be overseen by Transnet, will cost about R750-million and are ex- pected to generate income of about R30-million a year. The new terminal building will be outside the congested port cargo operations area, along AB Berth on Mahatma Gandhi Road (previously Point Road) near the port entrance channel. This is less than 400m from uShaka theme park, the beach and the Point Waterfront development.
“If all goes according to plan, the proposed passenger terminal will be able to handle 5 000 passengers and berthing for three smaller or two large ships such as the Sinfonia and Queen Mary II,” says the economic development and growth report.
The centrum development is also on the cards. This will consist of a R4-billion public and R11-billion private investment, with a major public transport hub, 500 000m2 of commercial bulk, 6 000 residential units, a regional library and a municipal complex.
Warwick Junction, the busiest transport hub in the city, will receive planned investment of R250-million for transport facilities and infrastructure. This will be bolstered by a R250-million private sector investment in retail development.
“Further investment opportunities also exist for retail, highdensity residential, as well as mixed-use developments. The overall plan provides for an ul- timate development which will be in the order of R3-billion to R5-billion,” the report says.
Meanwhile, property developer group Propertuity has set the bar high with the launch of its residential development, Pixley House, in Dr Pixley KaSeme Street (previously West Street). The conversion of the late-’30s Art Deco building will result in a thriving mixed-use hub, with retail on the ground floor and about 150 apartments.
“The development of Pixley House will be the first evidence of transformation of the inner city into a highly desirable and livable area in a truly urban environment,” said Jonathan Liebmann, the founder and MD of Propertuity.
“The city is already transforming. I think there’s a lot of good things going on there. We’ve taken a really big punt in Durban.”
Liebmann, who drove the development of the Maboneng Precinct in the Johannesburg inner city, believes the hosting of the Commonwealth Games will raise the bar for Durban.
“I think the city has great fundamentals. Also, the fact that it is bordered by the sea and the harbour means that it is quite contained.”
He believes that urbanisation is a natural trend in Africa as cities become denser and people need to live close to work. “Being around transport networks is very good.”
The revitalisation of Durban has always been the municipality’s plan, but implementation has stalled.
Programmes such as iTrump (the Inner City eThekwini Regeneration and Urban Management Programme), Better Buildings and Area Based Management have been moving at a snail’s pace.
Durban business consultant Andrew Layman believes the best hope for rejuvenation is proper precinct management, “even to the extent that precincts compete with one another for resources by which they can be improved”.
Durban’s hope lies in the system of urban improvement precincts the municipality has embraced, he says.
“But they are private sector initiatives because without private sector money, the city cannot afford to upgrade precincts to the extent that is needed.”
Municipality has for years prioritised the revitalisation of the inner city