Close on half a billion invested in Nelson Mandela Bay Metro

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

The Nelson Mandela Bay Development Agency says it has invested close on half a billion rand on urban renewal projects in several parts of Nelson Mandela Bay Metro since its inception in 2003.

These included upgrading parts of Central and the Donkin, Govan Mbeki Avenue, parts of Helenvale and most recently the rejuvenation of Kings Beach and its precinct.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Mandela Bay Development Agency, Pierre Voges, presented the findings of a survey detailing the economic impact of these projects in the areas where they occurred.

He said these projects, which over a ten year period were valued at over 450 million rand, have had significant positive benefits on the surrounding areas both in terms of private sector investment and employment creation.

"We've done a lot or work quietly and incrementally over the last five years and I think today was just an idea to say what the impact of that work was.

And, I think you cannot really thumb suck and impact, you need to ask people what have they done based on the upgrades we have done. We spend about R500m over the last five years and what we tried to do today is see what the impact of that work was and also highlight the negatives."

"So, the impact was quite significant in terms of the Gross Domestic Product, in terms of jobs created and new business sales created. That's very positive. But, I think also more positive is the psychological impact of our work. When people feel good about an area or their neighbourhood, they also feel good upgrading their own buildings and their own properties and that has happened as well."

"So, I think all-in-all we could have done much, much better. I think the impact could have been better, but what is being said today is the impact of that R500m was rather significant in town since 2004."

Meanwhile, Voges says while there had been positive spin-off's from the various urban renewal projects, there are still many negatives that have to be addressed.

He says the Metro Municipality, which is the ultimate custodian of these projects, has hardly any money to maintain them and there's still a big perception among people about safety in the inner-city.

Speaking to Algoa FM News, Voges says they're battling to convince the city to actually assist them in maintaining those properties.

"I think the idea was to create an upgrade, say the Donkin and the idea was then to take that asset and give it back in its upgraded state to the city and for the city then to maintain that. Maintenance is a big cost. I think you going to find that maintenance for a property like that over 20 years is going to cost more than the actual capital investment. And we battle to convince the City to help us in actually maintaining those properties."

"So, the City is running on a shoe-string budget and what has happened now is that we are running around scratching for money and a maintenance budget to look after those properties because we cannot allow an upgraded property to not find its place and its impact. So, Kings Beach, the Donkin and all the other upgraded areas are costing a lot in terms of maintenance. So, maintenance is a problem."

"The other problem is security. Security is not about the lack of security or actually being unsafe, it's about feeling unsafe. I think the perception of a lack of security is much worse than the actual lack of security. I think personally that Central and Govan Mbeki Avenue is fairly, fairly safe. I think the problem is that people still perceive it sometimes as unsafe because once you see a security guard or a policeman you feel better and people cannot often those people walking around and that needs to be improved as well."

Find Attached key findings of economic barometer