Port Elizabeth's once iconic Bayworld oceanarium will need to be completely demolished and rebuilt again in order for it to be restored to its former glory.
That is according to Bayworld's curator, Dylan Bailey, who was speaking to the media during an oversight visit on Tuesday by Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality's Municipal Public Accounts Committee.
Bailey said according to cost estimates done back in 2013 it would be cheaper to demolish Bayworld and rebuild it than to repair the Oceanarium's crumbling infrastructure.
"Just to repair the dolphin pool alone it was R120m whereas to rebuild the dolphin pool is going to cost R180m," he said.
Bailey said that they discovered back in 2013 that when they "dig down and open areas that have not been opened in 30 years" old stormwater drains and electrical lines that are in bad shape got exposed.
He also said that the needs of the institution have changed over time, but added that the staffing organogram has not changed to meet those needs. "It's not just a challenge here, it's a challenge throughout government. The DPSA (Dept Sport, Recreation, Arts, and Culture) admits that challenge and it's very difficult because of the structures in place and processes need to be followed," he said.
Bailey said they're hoping that with the "redevelopment" of Bayworld the way that the facility will be run and those responsible for it will give us an opportunity to completely restructure the organogram.
He said following the MPAC visit he is hoping that the Municipality will get a clearer idea of the state that we're in at the moment, "that time is of the essence, we don't have the luxury of time".
"I hope that they are better equipped to move forward and start compelling the people that need to make decisions to decisions. We need to move forward with the redevelopment," he said.
Bailey said "they are putting money into failing infrastructure", he said.
Meanwhile, the chairperson of Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality's Public Accounts Committee, Yoliswa Yako of the EFF, said the Committee will now facilitate talks between stakeholders to get the ball rolling.
However, she said the redevelopment of Bayworld is not entirely the responsibility of the Municipality but also that of the Provincial Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture as they don't have the budget for it.
"We're saying that let Province do what it is supposed to do, let then the Municipality also play its role in terms of just getting it started, getting it off the ground," she said.
Yako said it not just a budgetary matter that Bayworld is talking about, but staffing issues as well.
"This does not need to become a white elephant. It needs to be something that needs to be expedited now. We need to actually start to get the ball rolling now because if you are talking about a three-year plan that means that we need to start now so that in 2021 when our administration is done we've at least left something for those after us to carry on and make sure that they improve upon it," Yako said.
Meanwhile, in January Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality signed a Memorandum of Agreement with its development agency, the Mandela Bay Development Agency and the DSRAC to jointly work on the redevelopment of Bayworld.
The MBDA's Luvuyo Bangazi, said what they were tasked to do was to get the process rolling and obviously coordinate the work of a steering committee that is contained in that MOU to start a public participation process, stakeholder engagement and to develop certain scenarios for the future of Bayworld.
"We arrived at a number of scenarios which require strategic interventions from Province and the City. Those discussions now need to be speeded up because in those scenarios we paint a picture of animals in captivity, call it the Bayworld of old where you have mostly entertainment, or a Bayworld of the future that is more about conservation, that is more about education and research and natural science," he said.
He said children could come to a future Bayworld to "see animal dissections live or rehabilitation" and not animals necessarily "jumping through hoops". He said those two scenarios lead you to different business plans in terms of what you design for this place, what are the costs of implementation and maintenance costs because the disparities between the two scenarios are huge.
Bangazi said what they put to Council is the need for a "refined and formalised mandate to the MBDA in the first quarter of the new financial year.
"There needs to be a consensus between Province and the City on which scenario to follow specifically relating to the contentious issue of animals in captivity because that is a major deal breaker," he said.
