World Bank hails ethekwini’s economic response

OPPOSITION parties reacted cautiously to the news that the ethekwini Municipality had one of best practices for supporting the economy during the Covid-19 pandemic. The parties said the city’s efforts were not far reaching enough and were good on paper but not practically.

In a statement yesterday, the municipality said it received recognition from the World Bank’s Competitive Cities Programme as having one of the best economic responses to the global pandemic.

Dr Ajiv Maharaj, deputy head of Policy, Strategy, Information and Research in the Economic Development Unit at the municipality, made the webinar presentation to the World Bank and it was one of the best, along with those of London and Milan.

“The World Bank in India has also shown interest in learning how we are responding to the challenges in the informal sector,” said Maharaj.

Urban development specialist at the World Bank, Dmitry Sivaev, said: “In the time of the pandemic they have managed to fully utilise existing networks and partnerships to collect information, conduct impact tracking and distribute support where it is most needed, for the city’s economic development and resilience.”

DA caucus leader Nicole Graham said the city had some good ideas and pointed to some of the rates cuts for informal traders and B&B lodges. “But these do not go far enough.”

She said the average business in the city was collapsing and they had discovered that there were many businesses unaware of how to communicate with the municipality for help with their enterprises.

IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said he did not understand how the municipality could get the recognition for best practice when there was a lot it was doing wrong.

“On paper, what they are doing looks good, but practically it is another matter,” he said.

Nkosi said many people who had houses were struggling to make ends meet under these conditions. He also said that food parcels were not always distributed to the most needy people.