There is an outcry for investors to come and invest in beautiful eMalahleni.
But due to constant dry taps, electricity failures, potholes, over worked sewerage systems to name but a few, investors only give a shy smile and think twice.
That is not the only hurdles investors have to jump over when they decide to invest in the City of Coal, they also have to be prepared to be patient with their town planning applications.
At the moment there are approximately 500 different town planning related applications, which includes rezoning applications, in various stages of processing.
“The applications will however not necessary obtain ‘business’ zonings,” said the municipal manager, Mr Theo van Vuuren.
Van Vuuren explained the reasons for the current situation.
“There are two main factors. In the first instance it is the technical directorate who plays a vital role in appraising applications snowed under with operational issues dealing with the rehabilitation, reparation and expansion of the infrastructural base which as you are well aware are under severe strain. The time available to attend to non-crisis activities that being land use applications is limited and as a result the turn around time is too long. More than 360 applications at this stage have built up as a backlog with this directorate over the last 18 months.”
The old infrastructure is taking the second blame.
Van Vuuren said the capacity of the infrastructure base for further development is under severe strain therefore many applications are delayed whilst options are to be considered to make the required services available.
“We are trying our best not to decline applications purely as a result of the insufficient services available, as the further growth and employment creation of the city remains the first priority. However, in many cases no alternatives can be found and applications are declined based on this issue. As this happen after a prolonged process the frustrations by applicants are well founded.”
It is statements like these that are sending developers looking for greener pastures elsewhere.
“I am frustrated and stopped developing in the city,” said long time developer Mr Dave Jordan.
Jordan has now moved his developments to Tshwane.
“I have a piece of ground that I wanted to develop, but after 18 months there are still no answers. I got approval to develop, but there is no approval to guarantee me the services I need for the development. How can they approve a development, but not services,” Jordan said.
Two planned shopping centres in Ga-Nala in Thubelihle are also getting the wind from the front.
Mr Joe Koeberg applied for the development of two shopping centres.
The first application for the shopping centre in Ga-Nala consisted out of three applications; offer to purchase of an unnamed road, rezoning of the unnamed road and consolidation of properties.
“The offer to purchase application first needed to be finalised before we could proceed with the rezoning and consolidation,” he said.
This offer to purchase application was approved by council during 2013 but it required an amendment as the company, under which the application was approved, undergone a name change shortly before approval. The amendment was requested just after the Council Resolution was issued in 2013.
“It has been three years and we are still waiting on council for the amendment in order to proceed with the other applications, which were submitted to council in the meantime but are now delayed due to this small issue,” he said.
Koeberg have waited 23 months already for word about the application for the Thubelihle shopping centre.
Looking at the numbers of unemployment Koeberg could offer a means of income to many residents in the small Highveld town.
“The shopping centre in Thubelihle will provide a proper multipurpose centre to the residents, providing services which are non-existing in the township. The residents currently rely on informal tuck shops or need to use public transport to commute to Ga-Nala for their shopping needs,” he said.
In Ga-Nala the identified business node is relatively undeveloped and there is still potential for further development and investment opportunities. There is a need that exists for development and business facilities within Thubelihle.
The proposed development of a shopping centre in an earmarked business node will stimulate growth in other areas of economy promoting job opportunities and investment opportunities.
Van Vuuren explained the route an application takes when it is handed in and the holdup,
“Six different sections within the municipality need to submit comments on a town planning application. Previously Technical Services refused to submit comments on an application without having the comments of Spatial Planning. Therefore the backlog at Town Planning created delays. It was eradicated with the appointment of consultants at the end of 2014. But since November 2015 till now the backlog has grown to approximately 300 reports again. This excludes reports currently at Spatial Planning for comments new applications and pending applications that still need to be referred to them for comments.”
A step forward was taken when it was decided that six copies of each application will be handed in and distributed simultaneously.
The municipality is working on a way forward, Van Vuuren assured.
He highlighted the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act 16 of 2013 (SPLUMA) that came into operation last year. SPLUMA is a land use management tool, once operational, has a statutory time limitation of three months per application.
He also indicated that the way forward has a strong light at the end of the tunnel but this will still take time and experience problems before the light becomes reality.
Reorganisation of work flows and allocated capacity in both planning and technical to dedicate more time on applications is one of the steps Van Vuuren mentioned.
The others include the progress being made on improving the infrastructure base and capacity that will increasingly allow more applications to be released. However, the constraints differ in different areas and the insufficient electricity capacity in the eastern area will still be a hindrance for some time. Bringing on board retired engineers to assist with the backlog to clear the process prior to SPLUMA, is also an option the municipality is looking at.
One may argue that a moratorium be placed on new applications until the infrastructure capacity issues have been resolved.
Van Vuuren however does not agree,
“I remain of the view that such a moratorium will be counter productive and its consequences will be extremely detrimental on the city’s economy. The acceleration of infrastructure development and rehabilitation therefore remains our priority.”
No different from any other relationship, the one between an investor and the municipality should also be built on mutual trust and transparency.
It is clear that investors has lost faith in the municipality as can be seen by the likes of developers such as Jordan who is now taking his expertise and funds out of the municipality to go and invest in another municipality right on our doorstep.
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