PLANS to rid the city of about 80 dilapidated buildings will start this week when three buildings in the Point area are set to be demolished. Thirty-nine of the so-called “bad buildings” are in the Mahatma Gandhi precinct.
Municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said the City had been given a green light by the courts to start demolishing some of the buildings, while court processes on others are underway.
According to Mayisela, some of the buildings have been abandoned by their owners which resulted int hem being used as drug dens, brothels and homes for vagrants while negatively impacting residents in surrounding buildings.
“The City is committed to working with the private sector in eradicating bad buildings for purposes such as commercial, student accommodation, social housing and social facilities required to address these social ills. Owners of bad buildings who have gone under the radar neglecting them at the expense of the Municipality, are warned to come forward or risk losing their property,” said Mayisela.
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Meanwhile, eThekwini City Manager, Sipho Nzuza was expected to take the media on a tour of the bad buildings last week, however the tour was cancelled.
Nzuza’s tour included visiting Rivertown Development Precinct where contractors have already commenced with construction work, an indication that the City means business. Rivertown is going to be home to among others, restaurants and art galleries and is expected to revolutionarise the City’s night life dramatically.
Last year, the city announced that it would be taking control of three dilapidated buildings in the city as part of this regeneration – West Point Lodge on Margaret Mncadi Avenue (Victoria Embankment), the Palm Beach Hotel on Gillespie Street and the Durban Seamen’s Institute on Mahatma Gandhi (Point) Road.
The city planned to spend about R5 million to revitalise the buildings and then sell them and use the proceeds for social housing units “at strategic locations”.
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