October 14, 2004
By Ndaba Dlamini
A TOUR of Region 8 on Thursday 7 October took the executive mayor of Johannesburg, Amos Masondo, mayoral committee members and City officials through the Hillbrow health precinct and the sprawling Ellis Park sports surrounds, two inner city areas up for a facelift.
The melodious voices of Esselen Street Clinic staff greeted Masondo and his entourage as they disembarked from the mayoral roadshow bus. After an inspection of the Esselen clinic and being shown the recently installed Mindset Health Channel which delivers free digital health educational content in video, multi-media and print targeted at health workers and the general public, the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) gave Masondo an update on developments taking place in the health precinct.
Agmat Badat, development manager at the JDA, an agency of the City of Johannesburg which is spearheading the developments, said a health partnership between the City of Johannesburg and the University of the Witwatersrand's Reproductive Health Research Unit (RHRU) will see the Hillbrow health precinct undergoing refurbishments. The precinct is bordered by Kotze street in the north, Smit in the south, Klein in the east and Joubert and Rissik streets in the west.
Phase one of the upgrading of the health precinct has already started, said Badat. "King George and Esselen streets are being transformed into more accessible and much safer places. Street lighting and construction of free walkways along the two streets will hopefully be completed by March 2005. Esselen Street Clinic will be upgraded into a Centre of Excellence to become the core of the Hillbrow Health precinct".
Construction of a district health hospital in the precinct is also in the pipeline.
Dilapidated buildings in the precinct will be upgraded in the next two phases of the project which is planned to end in December 2006. "Most of the buildings in the precinct are heritage buildings which are more than 60 years old. Before any alterations or additions are done, an investigation will being done to acquire details about these heritage buildings," explained Badat.
Badat said the project will see existing primary health care services being consolidated, a move which will encourage new service providers to locate in the health precinct. "The project will also encourage relocation of social service providers and encourage the development of new residential properties in Hillbrow."
Hillbrow is one of the densely populated areas in the inner city of Johannesburg and is plagued by overcrowding, poverty and crime. Badat said the developments would promote better urban management and enhance public security in the area.
Situated within one block in the inner city of Johannesburg is the Sports precinct composed of three international standard sports complexes, the Johannesburg Stadium, Ellis Park Stadium and the City's premier Olympic-size swimming and diving pool, Ellis Park swimming pool, which are also up for development. The adjoining residential areas of Bertrams, Lorenztville, Bez Valley and Judith's Paarl have been hooked in the proposed developments as they form part of the sports precinct, an area which may stage part of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
During the tour of Ellis Park swimming pool, Masondo and his delegation had a chance to meet Tadgh Slattery, a 2004 Athens Olympic gold medallist who is deaf and has cerebral palsy. The Ellis Park swimming pool is Slattery's training ground. Masondo also met young people involved in the "Learn to Swim Programme", an initiative of SwimSA that teaches learners to swim and about water safety.
After the tour of the swimming pool, development manager at the JDA, Sibusiso Buthelezi, presented proposed developments in the sports precinct to the mayoral delegation. Buthelezi said the project was planned to commence on 1 November 2004. "We want to create a place which will be secure, safe, vibrant and a leading destination of choice for sports and recreation for the City of Johannesburg. However, we are not competing with Nasrec, home of Soccer City. Ellis Park is a sports, education and commercial hub unlike Nasrec which is mainly a home for soccer."
The project is expected to reverse decline and make the area attractive to new investment opportunities, according to Buthelezi. "The Jukskei River Park will be upgraded and improvements on roads, pedestrian facilities, public transport facilities and provision of integrated parking will form part and parcel of developments. The developments in the precinct will also accommodate informal trader facilities, sports-related retail, business and industry together with entertainment nodes."
Buthelezi said the project would see 3 215 housing units being delivered by 30 June 2009. "We expect to deliver social housing, student and sports academy accommodation."
Permission to use web site material
Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as:
- Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website
(www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency
(www.joburg.org.za)";
- If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original
article on this website;
- The name of the article's author is acknowledged;
-
The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill
in this brief online form).
Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 |
