AS part of its plans to rejuvenate the inner city, eThekwini Municipality has confirmed that construction is expected to commence at the Rivertown Precinct within the next two weeks.
This was revealed during a public meeting, held at the Durban International Convention Centre (ICC) on Monday.
The Precinct, which lies on the east of Durban CBD between the City’s International Convention Centre (ICC) and Durban beachfront, has been identified as a catalytic project for growth and development in the region, specifically linking to the ICC and the beachfront.
Experts predict that by 2050, the world’s population is expected to reach 9.8 billion, with 6.7 billion people projected to live in urban areas, prompting more cities like eThekwini to look at ways to respond to the growing demands of the area, it’s development and anticipated growth.
“About R40 million has been planned for this project and the bulk of the scope of work will be paving, electricity (street lighting), kerbing, landscaping and storm-water systems. The contract duration is two years, so if they start work next week, we expect them to be done by June 2021,” said the city’s Philani Shabalala, adding that a traffic management plan for the area would be completed once a contractor has been appointed. He said the traffic management plan would have to go to eThekwini Municipality Transport Authority (ETA) for approval. After that we will consult with property owners about how the construction will be conducted,” he said.
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Although public participation around the project commenced in 2017, preparations for the development of the Rivertown Precinct has been coupled with requests from stakeholders for improvements to the area. These proposed improvements include creating community centered linkages or access routes between the ICC and the beachfront.
Themba Masimula, from the city’s development and planning department said: “There are about 70 000 people living in the inner city. We have divided the precincts into eight, the sphere of influence from the beach and central precincts is intertwined and inter-related to what happens at the Rivertown Precinct. So, when you resolve the one, you need to ensure that you resolve what happens in the other precincts, so that it is easier for people to move around. This project at Rivertown was taken on to ensure that we rejuvenate the inner city and ensure that as people traverse between the ICC and beachfront, they are safe.”
However, some business owners at the meeting said their enthusiasm for the project was waning because of the slow pace of the project to date.
Others, like Mohammed Karaan said prospective buyers felt there was a tendency to inflate the price of available properties within the precinct, which also delayed the plans for the precinct from moving forward.
“Everyone is holding onto their properties in the hopes that they will be worth a lot in the future. Until somebody starts being realistic and releases those properties to people who want to do something in the area, things will carry on as they are,” he said.
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