The roll-out process of Ballito’s Urban Improvement Project (UIP) is on schedule and should be up to full speed by the beginning of December.
UIP project leader, Brian Wright said on Friday, August 14, that the first billing went through in August, for which the UIP will see the first receipt in September.
“We need reserves before we can deploy services, which we hope to start doing by mid to late October,” said Wright.
He said people’s expectations had to be managed and that the UIP was not coming in with a magic wand that could fix things within two to three months but that it would take time.
“We are currently busy with costing for landscaping and tendering for the procurement of security services,” he said.
Wright said a newsletter would soon be sent out to the UIP’s database to update the public on the roll-out process. He said this also involved getting comments and suggestions from the public, which the UIP said they would do this week.
Wright said they were doing things the proper way, making sure they have the right team on the ground and that they were looking forward to working closely with the KwaDukuza municipality.
The UIP’s mandate is to look after public open spaces and Wright said property owners would need to clean up their own buildings and sidewalks in a collective effort with the UIP to improve Ballito to the desired level.
Wright credited the Ilembe Chamber of Commerce for driving the forming of the UIP. He said that CEO Cobus Oelofse had done a lot of hard work and negotiating behind the scenes to get the formation of the Ballito UIP approved.
