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EKURHULENI
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Ekurhuleni’s aerotropolis set for
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Key to Ekurhuleni Municipality’s 2055 Growth and Development Strategy is the aerotropolis masterplan. Africa Outlook has a look at the proposals. Writer Ian Armitage Project Manager Stuart Platt
t’s no secret that there needs to be improvement in how South Africa is managed at a national, provincial and municipal level. According to the auditor general, only five percent of municipalities obtained clean audit reports in the financial year 2011/2012. There are currently 343 municipalities in the country and worryingly five of South Africa’s nine provinces did not have a single municipality with a clean audit, including Gauteng, the country’s economic engine. The Gauteng Province is divided into three metropolitan municipalities – City of Johannesburg, City of Tswane, and Ekurhuleni - and two district municipalities (Sedibeng and West Rand), which are further divided into seven local municipalities. In 2009, the Gauteng Provincial Government deployed a specialised team in Ekurhuleni to assist in
This flagship project has been in the pipeline for some time and I am aware that there continues to be sceptics in our ranks as to whether it will see the light of day. To them I wish to confirm that we have no intention to go back on pronouncements made previously”
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accelerating “the provision of services, infrastructure development and to deal with outstanding disputes”. The municipality had been facing challenges in its finances, infrastructure and planning. It also lagged behind in providing key services. The municipality requested that the provincial government step in and deploy a team to assist in the short term, isolating and resolving issues that may be impeding proper service delivery in specific areas. Much has since changed. But there is still work to be done. In his latest state of the city address, Mayor Mondli Gungubele talked at length about the municipality’s 2055 Growth and Development Strategy – a programme he described as “the essence of a future development trajectory for Ekurhuleni”. “To borrow from US President Barrack Obama, “As our parents’ children, we have the opportunity to learn from these mistakes and disappointments. We have the opportunity to muster the courage to fulfil the promise of our forefathers and lead our great nations towards a better future”,” he said. “In the light of the above, we are today presenting 12 building blocks, which are aimed at delivering a liveable city in the short to medium term, and a productive, future city in the long term. These are the blocks that we started laying since the beginning of our term of office. Going forward, we will be picking up momentum in their implementation.” Those “blocks” are extensive and include, as the Mayor put it, “intensifying job creation activities”, “strengthening public participation”, “improving local public services” and “broadening access and combating fraud and corruption”. Other blocks include better revenue management, working
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Ekurhuleni City Manager Khaya Ngema has pledged support to Ekurhuleni becoming a Aerotropolis
We believe that by making the airport, city and region better connected, we can develop in a more economically efficient, attractive and sustainable way”
RED FARMS SOCIAL FOOD SECURITY PROJECTS
Red Farms Broad Based Cooperative Business Participation Farming and Social Food Security Program Red Farms is a social enterprise development project initiated and driven by the Red Ant Security Services Pty Ltd. Red Farms will function and operate as a Cooperative Business Participation Management Farming Project, co-opting emerging Farmers into the various Management positions available on the project and having a stake in profits as delegated to each management position. Mayoral food delivery to the Poortjie Informal Settlement Johannesburg
At present the project is providing food support on a weekly basis to the elderly, schools, needy families and orphanages around Johannesburg to the extent of feeding 6,000 household per week and 24,000 households per month. We train mentor and empower emerging farmers. Activities in progress include:
Deputy CEO Buti Lesiela handing over the first Profit Share Bonus earned by the farm workers permanently employed in the project.
• Soil preparation • Irrigation and seeding • Planting a variety of seeds • Harvesting • Distributing to the needy • Fish farming • Training For more information please contact: RED ANT SECURITY SERVICES (PTY) LTD T/A RED FARMS SOCIAL FOOD SECURITY PROJECTS TEL: 0027 (0) 11 444 9226
Potatoes being harvested for Rabie Ridge and Poortjie Settlements
WWW.REDFARMS.CO.ZA
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to transforming the economy, reviving the manufacturing sector and the development of the Ekurhuleni aerotropolis, a plan that will see Ekurhuleni become Africa’s first “airport city”, a link to the rest of South Africa. The aerotropolis is really “the heart” of the new development strategy and it seems to be taking flight. Referring to the project, the Mayor said: “This flagship project has been in the pipeline for some time, and I am aware that there continues to be sceptics in our ranks as to whether it will see the light of day. To them I wish to confirm that we have no intention to go back on pronouncements made previously. “Following the development of our Strategic Roadmap, we have now set out to develop the aerotropolis masterplan. In this regard, a tender has been issued, to invite appropriately qualified service providers to step forward and help us develop this masterplan. We anticipate that process will take up to eighteen months to conclude. “Our plans enjoy the support of Provincial and National Government.” He pledged to “make sure that the Ekurhuleni aerotropolis is an overwhelming success.” Home to OR Tambo airport, Ekurhuleni has every chance of succeeding in its goal. Key to the success of the project will be the ability to attract investors. Several airline companies are already headquartered in Kempton Park – national flag carrier South African Airways for example – while low-cost carrier Mango is headquartered at OR Tambo. However, Shaddow MMC for Finannce in Ekurhuleni Eddie Taylor believes “the challenge the city faces is the issue of expanding”. Ekurhuleni is not the only City hoping to develop into an aerotropolis, King Shaka airport in KwaZuluNatal has the advantage of space for expansion. But what Ekurhuleni doesn’t have in space, it makes up for in roads. Good roads. And newly improved freeways. These factors have seen the project endorsed by international experts. “If the aerotropolis will inspire economic growth there will have to be synergy among key stakeholders,” says Schipol Area Development Company’s Vivianne Blommers, an international expert from the Netherlands. “We believe that by making the airport, city and region better connected, we can develop in a more economically efficient, attractive and sustainable way.
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The aerotropolis should be seen as a vehicle to position the SA economy among the world economies. It must be about creating jobs, poverty alleviation, and the equitable share of business opportunities to small, micro and medium enterprises”
Several airlines including SAA are headquarted in Kempton Park
Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane and Ekurhuleni Executive mayor Mondli Gungubele at the Aerotropolis Investor Conference
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According to Blommers, “An aerotropolis model maximises the competitive advantages of having an Airport City in a strong Metropolis. “Of course, a global city region can only exist in the presence of a hub. Airport, City and Region need to be connected in a way that benefits the hub as a whole,” she says. Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport is one of the pioneers of the Airport City formula. “It is a business model based on the concept that an airport is not just an arrival-anddeparture terminal. It’s about integrating aviation and non-aviation activities,” says Blommers. “It is a dynamic hub integrating people and businesses, logistics and shops, information and entertainment offering its visitors and locally based international businesses all the services they require on a 24/7 basis.” With the high unemployment rate in the country, including Ekurhuleni, the aerotropolis would create employment and economic growth. “We have the OR Tambo, the airport and the City of Ekurhuleni will have to continue to create a secure and conducive climate for business development as the only sustainable way to address unemployment and poverty,” says Professors Carel van Aardt from the University of South Africa. “Ekurhuleni’s responsibility is to improve the enabling of environment and eliminating deterrents to do business in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng and the wider South Africa.” Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane believes that the success of the aerotropolis will lead to the prosperity of all the people of Gauteng including the business community. “The aerotropolis should be seen as a vehicle to position the SA economy among the world economies. It must be about creating jobs, poverty alleviation, and the equitable share of business opportunities to small, micro and medium enterprises,” she says. “We must create a good environment for investors, we must put processes in place to improve turnaround time in making decisions and have teams in place to identify and mitigate threats before it is too late.” To learn more about the project and everything else happening in Ekurhuleni (there is a lot going on) visit www.ekurhuleni.gov.za.
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