Richards Bay named SA’s fourth most expensive city

THE City of uMhlathuze has refuted survey results by global database Expatistan, which claim Richards Bay is more expensive than much larger cities such as Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.

Expatistan, which compares the cost-of-living in 1997 cities from 204 countries around the world, on Monday updated its calculations to bring down Richards Bay from its previous top spot as the country’s most pricey place to reside.

Results are based on the cost of food, housing, clothes, transportation, personal care and entertainment in each destination.

The values are then calculated by assigning a figure of 100 to a central reference city, which is Prague, and comparing every other city in the database around it.

This means Richards Bay, measured at 106 points, is 6% more expensive to live in than Prague, after Bhisho (114), Pietermaritzburg (110) and Johannesburg (108).

Cost-of-living in Durban was calculated at 83, Cape Town 93 and Port Elizabeth 89.

But City Communications Manager, Mdu Ncalane said even though Richards Bay is now down to fourth place, the results are still highly unreliable.

‘The perspective of the City of uMhlathuze is very clearly measured by the rates as well as tariffs, which are items directly linked to the city.

‘If you compare Richards Bay as a town and Durban as the city and so many other similar towns and cities, you will notice that we are at the bottom of the list.

‘Even KwaDukuza Municipality and Msunduzi Municipality both have higher tariffs compared to the City of uMhlathuze.

‘We will need to thoroughly scrutinise all aspects tested by this research before we are convinced that it is accurate on finding Richards Bay a more expensive city to live in.’

Hiring hiccups

Managing Director of recruitment agency Prostaffing, Paul Pereira, agreed it is a tricky study to go by.

‘I am not sure what all the factors are when these figures are calculated, but I believe from an employee’s perspective, a lot of them will be wondering if their salaries really match the cost of living in Richards Bay.

‘I have already noticed some Facebook users have commented that their salaries really need to be reviewed.

‘From a recruiter’s and employer’s point of view, this is not good news either.

‘With the economy where it is, it is challenging enough that we are struggling to attract good skills to the area, but to add to the woes for future candidates will also be looking at the cost of living in Richards Bay before they decide to relocate.’