Bay ‘closed for business’

Developers hindered by endless delays in applications process

Frustrated Nelson Mandela Bay property developers say they are battling red tape and endless delays in the municipality with processing their applications.

Some building and rezoning applications take between 18 months and three years to be processed, stifling investments and much-needed jobs for the city.

The housing department, which is crucial to the approval of new houses, rezoning applications and even new shopping mall plans, has been closed since the countrywide lockdown came into effect on March 27.

The municipality, however, said the office was open, with staff working on a rotational basis.

According to town planner Ndaba Ndzombane from Metro Plan, the Covid-19 pandemic has only amplified what was already a major problem in getting the city to approve development applications.

Speaking last week, Ndzombane said having plans approved by the city was an ongoing struggle which was not unique to the coronavirus.

“It’s not unusual for applications to get stuck and this is frustrating us,” he said.

Ndzombane said if he submitted five applications at one time, he would be lucky to get a response on four of those in 17 to 18 months.

“It’s like the municipality doesn’t understand the concept of being open for business.

“When clients don’t get a response on projects they’re interested in, they withdraw their investments and these investments could have gone a long way in creating jobs for the city,” Ndzombane said.

He accused the municipality of not being transparent in terms of keeping track of where the applications were in the system.

“If you want to know the process the applications are undergoing, they hold off in responding to you until you get a negative response, which in itself takes longer.

“Appealing that negative response from the department takes even longer, whereas had you been kept in the loop, you could’ve engaged on matters and solved the problem,” Ndzombane said.

He said the city needed to realise it was not business as usual.

Developers needed town planning, the estate department, the building inspectorate, the drainage department and information centre to open in order to function.

A conveyancer who did not want to be named said he was awaiting feedback on 20 applications, one he had submitted as far back as 2017.

“Generally, the municipality is in absolute turmoil and we’re busy waiting on applications that haven’t been processed, or some municipal departments to make comments on them,” he said.

The conveyancer said some of the deadlines for comments were meant to have been submitted in October as he had already received approval from the department of agriculture in Pretoria, which he said was “a big deal”.

“There are certain departments that always cause delays in terms of giving comments.

“Before applications can be approved, they need comment from other departments that are linked.

“My thing is, if you’re meant to give comment by a certain date and you miss that deadline, then it means you don’t have any comment,” he said.

In 2018, a World Bank report looking at the Ease of Doing Business in SA had ranked the Bay among the lowest of all metros in the country when it came to doing business in the city.

At the time, the report showed that the turnaround time for connecting new businesses with electricity was 347 days.

It further stated that red tape and a lack of adequate internal capacity had hamstrung the municipality’s ability to ensure a quick turnaround time to process applications for new businesses.

South African Institute of Architectural Technologists (SAIAT) regional chair Pierre Opperman said the industry was frustrated as no communication was coming from the city in terms of when development would be open again.

“We’ve got plans to submit and members are asking when the municipality will open but I can’t give them answers because I’m not getting responses to questions I’m asking the municipality,” Opperman said.

Opperman said they understood the Covid-19 pandemic had gripped not only the metro but the entire country, but there were people who still believed in developing Port Elizabeth.

“However, we cannot do that as we get no answers from the powers that be regarding information required to do the building plans and queries,”

Opperman said.

Municipal spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki said the municipality was one of the best performing municipalities in SA when it came to the issuing of construction permits, with a turnaround time of seven days.

“Furthermore, the municipality is currently developing an Electronic Municipal Applicants

Management System (e-MAMS), which is aimed at automating the construction permitting system. Phase 1 of the system has been launched and can be accessed on the Municipal Website (e-Tracking).

“This system is available for both building plan and land use development applications,” Mniki said.

“The municipality is treating the construction and investment initiatives with urgency, hence the effort of developing systems to fast track approval processes.

“All land development applications submitted to the municipality are assessed in line with the time frames contemplated in the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act, 2013 (SPLUMA) Regulations.

“Applications that take longer than the regulated time frames are either incomplete or require approvals from other authorities, before the municipality makes a decision and such issues are communicated with applicants.

“The municipality intends to further shorten these times by means of a SPLUMA bylaw that recently was endorsed by the council, which clearly defines roles to be played by both applicants and the municipality as well as time frames, over and above the development of e-MAMS.

“The municipality is aware that it is in competition with other cities with regard to attracting investment.

“Therefore, all efforts are under way to make it easy for investors to develop in the municipality,” Mniki said.

The city’s head of economic development, tourism and agriculture Anele Qaba, however, said the municipality should not be frustrating businesses that wanted to invest in the metro.

Qaba said blockages in development had to be investigated and the problems experienced by developers dealt with.

“The city manager’s office as well as the office of the mayor need to look at these things as they can’t be left to lower management level because you might find that the culture needs to change in some departments as there is no sense of urgency.

“The culture in some departments does not allow for easy flow of business and applications wanting approval from the city,” he said.