Housing in Southern Africa July 2016

Infrastructure and Mixed Use

Cloverdene Shopping Centre breaks ground Work has begun on the construction of a new shopping centre in the Benoni suburb of Cloverdene.

L ocated along the increasingly busy Cloverdene Road between Rynfield andDaveyton, the new 8 000m² centrewill provide quick and convenient shopping to residents of Cloverdene and eastern parts of Rynfield and Daveyton. Although the greater Benoni area is well served in terms of shopping centres, there is currently nothing serving the defined catchment area in Cloverdene within an approximate 2,5 km radius. The vast majority of these resi- dents fall into the lower income and Living Standards Measure (LSM) brackets and have limited travel op- tions. The shopping centre is being developed by the ONE Property Hold- ings Group. Cloverdene Shopping Centre offers a variety of national brands and tenants include Shoprite and Cashbuild, Pep, Ackermans, a hairdressing salon and several bank- ing facilities. The centre includes a taxi rank and developers are in ongoing discus- sions with the local taxi association to ensure that the community is provided with a working transport hub in the area. They are also in the process of appointing a community liaison officer, who will ensure that residents are kept informed and involved during the construction T he Department of Local Gov- ernment and Human Settle- ments in Bokone Bophirima in collaboration with National Depart- ment of Corporative Governance and Traditional Affairs, North West Department of Public Works and 23 local municipalities attended a two dayworkshop on the allocation of the Municipal Infrastructure Grant for the 2016/2017 financial year. Bokone Bophirima has been iden- tified as one of the municipalities in the North West Province that is not spending its grant effectively. To date, somemunicipalities still have to use a large portion of the municipal infrastructure grant with only two months to go before the end of the financial year. According to the Director: Inte- grated Municipal Infrastructure, Mishak Monageng, “Infrastructure should be provided in such away that

jobs post construction. The devel- oper will also engage with prospec- tive tenants to further encourage permanent employment for the local community. “The aim is to design a shopping centre that serves the needs of the community through a carefully selected tenant mix, en- suring that the requirements of the people in the area are met,” says Werner Franck of ONE Property Hold- ings. Cloverdene Shopping Centre is scheduled for completion towards the end of 2016 and is expected to open in December. ■ expanding the delivery of basic mu- nicipal services such as water, sanita- tion, electricity and refuse removal,” says the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) Provincial Coordinator. MISA’s on-going work will tackle bottlenecks in munici- palities where the grant has not been spent. Members raised concerns with regards to progress of ensuring con- tinuous procurement and service provider payment issues. “The Department is aware of these challenges and has offered support through various statutory mecha- nisms,” says Tshepo Phetlhu, Chief Director Development and Planning. Phetlhu highlighted that only Tlokwe and Mahikeng municipalities in the NorthWest are ready to roll out projects as well as grant allocations for service delivery projects for the next financial year. ■

process. The community liaison of- ficer will facilitate the use of local sub-contractors and skilled labour residing in the two wards near the retail centre. The main contractor has been encouraged to employ people fromthe area and this process is being closely monitored by the developer. Regular meetings are being held with the community to ensure that the process is fair to all parties in- volved, to ensure that the community will benefit during the construction phase and with possible permanent

Municipal Infrastructure Grant employment is maximised and op- portunities are created for enter- prises to flourish and enhance local economic development.”

The grant funding is currently equitably allocated tomunicipalities through a formula that takes into consideration housing backlogs in existing, established and formalised settlements, as well as poverty pro- files in different municipalities. The allocation is guided by the grant policy and this determines how these funds will be spent. The workshop highlighted and addressed the issues rather than withdrawing funds from munici- palities without tackling and assist- ing municipalities to use the funds for much needed infrastructure. The challenges includedpoor planning re- lated to procurement processes and political instability in municipalities. “The scale of funding is aimed at

July 2016