THE dilapidated Trafalgar Place on Rutherford Road off Mahatma Gandhi Road, was demolished on Friday, as the city embarked on a mission to rid itself of a plague of problem buildings which have become home to vagrants or developed into brothels and drug dens to the detriment of law abiding residents and the business community.
According to the municipality’s Msawakhe Mayisela, the City is utilising its by-laws, building regulations and ultimately legal processes to eradicate bad buildings within the inner city. Among the problem buildings earmarked for intervention are Tong Lok and Ronda Vista. Speaking at the site of the first demolition on Friday, city manager, Sipho Nzuza said the municiplaity was on a mission to ‘rejuvenate and regenerate’ Durban’s Point area.
“Part of that has been looking at the areas and we have gathered here to show that we are now starting the process. There are three buildings that are going to be taken down as part of the start of the rejuvenation project. We are going to build new buildings that are going to be used for residential purposes, ” he said.
Acting eThekwini mayor Fawzia Peer said she was “elated” that the process had finally started and pre-empted questions about long delays by saying that building owners were “not coming on board”.
VIEW: VIDEO: Demolition of Durban’s problem buildings commences
“There are lots of property owners that we can’t find, so the buildings become more derelict. The crime and grime increases. We are trying to refurbish some. It is very sad that in this hard-earned democracy, property owners are not playing the game. We are not going to take nonsense from property owners who won’t come on board, our buildings have to be safe,” she said.
The city’s building inspectorate unit manager, Daniels Pentasaib, said six buildings would be totally flattened and new residential blocks, including student residences would be constructed.
“The city is also approaching the high court regarding buildings in Pickering Street that have dysfunctional body corporates and is seeking the appointment of judicial administrators there, said Pentasaib.
According to a media statement from the municipality, the Mahatma Gandhi node cradles approximately half of the 80-odd bad buildings in the city. Speaking to media at the demolition site on Friday, deputy city manager for Economic Development and Planning, Phillip Sithole, said while they would not simply remove vulnerable people, they were also not going to accept ‘crime and grime’.
READ RELATED: City acts on problem buildings
Meanwhile, the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry said they welcomed the planned demolishing of so-called “bad” buildings as part of the first phase of the eThekwini Municipality’s inner-city rejuvenation project.
“The Durban Chamber fully supports this initiative as the inner-city’s facelift strategy is crucial to preserving Durban’s central business district (CBD) as a critical economic hub,” the chamber said in a statement. “There is a need to ensure that Durban’s inner-city is safe and secure as well as a conducive environment for people to live, do business and visit, thus making it more attractive to business and actively reverse the trend of businesses and ratepayers leaving the city centre.”
