A public meeting for Ward 66 was held on March 17 at Kensington Community Hall to give feedback on the progress of the Eastern Gateway precinct plan.
The precinct plan was designed by the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) to change the general outlook of Bertrams, Lorentzville, Judith’s Paarl, Troyeville, Bez Valley, Jeppestown and parts of Kensington.
The JDA, along with its consultants, hosted focus group sessions with community representatives and property owners two years ago to obtain input from smaller groups of residents, users, property owners, and educational and non-profit institutions as to the future vision and development of the Inner City Eastern Gateway.
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JDA development facilitation manager Nicolette Pingo said the JDA’s plan has been developed and will be tabled before the council.
“We have started some implementation in line with this plan. Our first implementation is in Jeppestown.
“We are currently developing Jeppe Park. It’s an exciting project. The park will provide extensive facilities in terms of soccer fields, playgrounds and open spaces to continue the cultural activities that happen there in terms of the Ingoma dancing. The project is under way and expected to be completed before the end of our financial year, which is June this year,” she said.
Pingo said the department looked at Kensington and realised that it is still a relatively well-functioning residential area.
She said it only makes sense to rather focus the densification and affordable houses closer to the inner city as it creates more opportunities for people who live there.
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“What our analysis determined is that because the inner city still remains the most economically rich part of the City of Johannesburg in terms of employment, that it makes sense to densify as close to the inner city as possible.
“We have only proposed one housing site along Albertina Sisulu in Kensington but that is subject to multiple approvals.
“It is currently on public open space and we need extensive approval from all city departments as well as input from residents before it would be developed. The last thing we propose for Kensington is looking at how we could use the space that we have in Kensington and it would be possible to integrate some of the space into more user-friendly parks,” she said.
Only a few residents attended the meeting.
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Ward 66 Clr Carlos da Rocha said he was disappointed with the turnout of residents.
“I expected more people to be there because the meeting affects the residents. Residents need to know what happens in their area,” he said.
