The DA in KwaZulu-Natal is concerned about expensive eThekwini facilities becoming white elephants because of underutilisation and lack of maintenance.
Provincial DA leader Francois Rodgers shared his concerns as he led a team of DA councillors on site visits to the Firwood Road swimming pool in Red Hill and the C3 corridor facility of Go!Durban in Ntuzuma, north of Durban.
Rodgers was impressed by the facilities of eThekwini’s long-term transport project but expressed concern with the constant delays in implementation.
“There is great infrastructure on the ground, it is first world. The biggest concern is that the project still hasn’t kicked off seven years after it should have. My question to the officials is, when is the rubber going to hit the road?
“The answers are quite vague. They are still having to deal with issues such as licences, taxis and communities but we’ve been given assurances that it will all be completed by the end of November.”
Thami Manyathi, head of the eThekwini Transport Authority, said the C3 corridor was meant to be operational from 2016 but they had experienced delays caused by several factors including taxi associations and business forums.
He confirmed that they’d made headway over the past few months and now have 13 contracts with operators in the city for public transport.
“We’re saying to start we will recognise the current operators of those contracts and they will have the larger share, 65%. All the others who are operating in the city but are not subsidised will come on board and subcontract 35% of the contract.” said Manyathi. “They can grow over time and graduate from subcontractors to being operators in their own right and have a direct contract with the city.”
In terms of when the project will be operational, Manyathi said the contracts will be signed at different stages until all public transport in Durban uses a common brand and can be accessed with one smart card to any destination within the city. This is planned for January.
“We will start seeing changes all over the city and the first set of contracts will be signed this month for feeder services. We will be using and rebranding some of the minibus taxis so those feeders will largely be with associations that are around (this corridor).
“We will then be starting talks with the operators of the 13 contracts and we're aiming to have signed with some, if not all of them, by the end of November.”
Rodgers said he was disappointed by some of the answers that were vague when they were looking for commitments but affirmed that they will be ready to do oversight as the opposition.
“There was no commitment but my understanding is that they will cross all the t's and dot the i's by the end of November.
“We will wait and see, and if there is no rubber on the road by the end of November we will put some serious pressure on the City of eThekwini and the department of transport so that a project like this doesn’t just become a white elephant and waste billions of taxpayers' money.”
Rodgers had earlier visited the community swimming pool on Firwood Road in Red Hill, which was in a poor state.
Durban's world-class infrastructure must not be left to crumble, says DA
Image: SANDILE NDLOVU
The DA in KwaZulu-Natal is concerned about expensive eThekwini facilities becoming white elephants because of underutilisation and lack of maintenance.
Provincial DA leader Francois Rodgers shared his concerns as he led a team of DA councillors on site visits to the Firwood Road swimming pool in Red Hill and the C3 corridor facility of Go!Durban in Ntuzuma, north of Durban.
Rodgers was impressed by the facilities of eThekwini’s long-term transport project but expressed concern with the constant delays in implementation.
“There is great infrastructure on the ground, it is first world. The biggest concern is that the project still hasn’t kicked off seven years after it should have. My question to the officials is, when is the rubber going to hit the road?
“The answers are quite vague. They are still having to deal with issues such as licences, taxis and communities but we’ve been given assurances that it will all be completed by the end of November.”
Thami Manyathi, head of the eThekwini Transport Authority, said the C3 corridor was meant to be operational from 2016 but they had experienced delays caused by several factors including taxi associations and business forums.
He confirmed that they’d made headway over the past few months and now have 13 contracts with operators in the city for public transport.
“We’re saying to start we will recognise the current operators of those contracts and they will have the larger share, 65%. All the others who are operating in the city but are not subsidised will come on board and subcontract 35% of the contract.” said Manyathi. “They can grow over time and graduate from subcontractors to being operators in their own right and have a direct contract with the city.”
In terms of when the project will be operational, Manyathi said the contracts will be signed at different stages until all public transport in Durban uses a common brand and can be accessed with one smart card to any destination within the city. This is planned for January.
“We will start seeing changes all over the city and the first set of contracts will be signed this month for feeder services. We will be using and rebranding some of the minibus taxis so those feeders will largely be with associations that are around (this corridor).
“We will then be starting talks with the operators of the 13 contracts and we're aiming to have signed with some, if not all of them, by the end of November.”
Rodgers said he was disappointed by some of the answers that were vague when they were looking for commitments but affirmed that they will be ready to do oversight as the opposition.
“There was no commitment but my understanding is that they will cross all the t's and dot the i's by the end of November.
“We will wait and see, and if there is no rubber on the road by the end of November we will put some serious pressure on the City of eThekwini and the department of transport so that a project like this doesn’t just become a white elephant and waste billions of taxpayers' money.”
Rodgers had earlier visited the community swimming pool on Firwood Road in Red Hill, which was in a poor state.
Image: SANDILE NDLOVU
He said it was shocking that a community swimming pool that was previously used by schools for galas and water events and had facilities like a training pool where children could learn to swim had been allowed to deteriorate due to lack of maintenance.
“That swimming pool has been neglected for seven years. Why are they not restoring it to its original state and allowing the community and schools to benefit? It’s just a shocking indictment of the City of eThekwini.
“You have all this wonderful — or what used to be wonderful — infrastructure and it’s just being allowed to disintegrate into nothing.”
He said eThekwini had wonderful infrastructure that had been allowed to disintegrate largely due to the city not investing enough to maintain its facilities.
“If eThekwini is not going to budget for maintenance, spend at least 8% of its entire budget as on maintenance as stipulated by the National Treasury, then this is what you will have: infrastructure that is collapsing throughout the city. If you cut maintenance, you get what we saw today.”
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