Go!Durban – get it going!
DURBAN business leaders yesterday called on city officials to urgently resolve the dispute over the R20 billion Go!Durban project as economic growth was dependent on improving public transport.
At a breakfast meeting at the Durban ICC to explain the city’s 2016/17 budget to business, KZN Growth Coalition representative Andrzej Kiepiela appealed to officials to resolve the issues that had brought the project’s seven construction sites to a halt last month.
Disgruntled taxi operators stormed the construction sites and ordered contractors to stop work. A series of disruptions since April last year have resulted in fears that Phase 1 of the project – which is mainly infrastructure – will fail to meet the 2018 deadline. The work stoppages were reportedly costing the city about R600000 a day as contractors could not work and machinery lay idle.
Kiepiela said while the city had the full support of the business sector, public transport in Durban lagged behind other cities and the disputes had to be resolved as a matter of urgency. He said the economy of any city was only as good as its public transport system.
He also appealed to “current and future councillors after August 3 (elections), asking them to put Durban, Kwazulu-natal and South Africa first.
“We know we are going into a silly period with elections coming but whatever you say, whatever you do, please remember your city comes first, the province comes first, the country comes first.”
Responding, Ethekwini Mayor James Nxumalo said the council was in talks with taxi operators.
Nxumalo moved to reassure the business community that the municipality was politically stable and open for business.
Chief executive of the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry Dumile Cele also urged the city to fasttrack its plans to make free Wi-Fi and faster broadband services available to the public. The city of Tshwane last year rolled out free connectivity to all its residents, with Bloemfontein and Johannesburg planning to follow suit this year.
Cele said while the relationship between business and local government had matured, the private sector was still looking for a more policy conducive environment to attract investment. She hailed the recent approval of the Incentives Policy for Potential Developers and a one-stop-shop to assist with red tape, which has opened at the Lion Match business park, as moving in the right direction.
Key announcements by City Manager Sibusiso Sithole included approvals for the R25 billion Point Waterfront development, which he said would get under way in June. And, despite a slightly decreased capital budget, Sithole said the city was allocating the lion’s share of its capital expenditure budget to infrastructure that geared towards promoting economic growth.
He said participation by the private sector in the projects was critical to their success. They include road upgrades at major intersections, the development of the industrial park at Hammarsdale and Avoca, the automotive park at Illovo, back-of-port development which would include the old Clairwood race course logistics park and upgrades and development projects at Isipingo.
He said talks to upgrade the ICC and further expansion at the Dube Trade Port were also under way.
“We want to promote the development of hotels and office park suites around the convention centre,” he said.