March 31, 2004
By Jonews Reporter
WITH unemployment at around 52 percent and little commercial or industrial property in operation in Soweto, the newly formed multi-disciplinary Soweto Development Initiative aims to get the ball rolling and ensure that business nodes attract private investment in this chiefly residential area.
Despite accommodating over 43 percent of the Johannesburg's residents, Soweto has over the years failed to develop economically and still plays the historical apartheid resistance role of being little more than a dormitory area of low-cost housing.
In a study conducted earlier this year, it was found that 80 percent of the disposable income available (R10,5-billion a year) is spent outside Soweto - a factor which inhibits investment and job creation. Other factors holding back development have been old planning regulations and lack of land availability.
Much of the land in Soweto not owned by private households is owned by the City of Johannesburg and is managed by the Joburg Property Company, and it is this that presents a vital opportunity for the development initiative.
The task of the Soweto Development Initiative is immense - to coordinate development in the township, focusing on driving the economy and facilitating social and environmental programmes.
According to a report to council, the initiative will integrate six key components - the economic and business sector; infrastructural development; planning and land use; social development; safety and security; and the environment - and will utilise the various council departments and other stakeholders.
Each department will take responsibility for its area of work, and submit periodic progress reports to the coordinating committee to this effect. Regions and other players will be involved as and when required.
The initiative will draw up strategies to encourage investment, investigate rezoning, improve and maintain existing infrastructure in transport and housing, and upgrade the social and cultural environment of Soweto.
In order for the six-pillared system to work as an integrated whole, the initiative will be implemented by the Economic Development Unit, with funding being raised by the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA).
At present, the main hope for finance is being placed on the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), a parastatal charged with promoting economic and industrial development through providing low-cost financing to private sector investors.
To avoid the past problem of IDC funding not reaching disadvantaged areas, the corporation has undertaken to provide grant funding totalling R18,7-million to local governments that are prepared to set up agencies that aim to improve investment conditions in these areas.
Although the IDC requires a council resolution supporting the application, it has made it clear that the JDA satisfies its development agency criteria and that it would consider their application favourably.
Should the IDC be forthcoming, the JDA will be expected to raise additional funding for the SDI strategy from other sources, including possibly provincial and national government.
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