EThekwini residents can have their say on the proposed eThekwini Integrated Inner City Local Area Plan and Regeneration Programme which is set to revolutionise the Inner-City restoring it back to its former glory by attracting business and economic growth back to the area.

A website has been established to keep the public abreast of all developments relating to the plan where they can also comment about the project.

Further engagements to keep residents informed will be held with an open day planned for early next year where an information session and public display will be held. The date and venue will be communicated in due course.

Progress made with the regeneration plan was presented to eThekwini senior management at a high-level meeting chaired by the City Manager, Sibusiso Sithole this week.

It was explained that the purpose of the project is to prepare an Inner-City Local Area Plan (LAP), a high level plan to inform the detail precinct plans, Inner-City Regeneration Strategy and Implementation Plan. Ultimately the plan aims to ensure the Inner-City of Durban will be a vibrant, connected, walkable and integrated city centre to provide suitable environments for economic, residential, sporting and leisure opportunities for all.

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EThekwini Municipality’s Buffelsdraai Landfill Waste to Energy Project has put Durban in the running as a finalist in the C40 Climate Leadership Group Cities Award.

The winner will be announced on 3 December 2015 at the COP21 negotiations to be held in Paris, France.

Durban was selected by the Climate Leadership Group (C40) as one of the 33 finalists to compete in the third annual C40 Cities Awards.

The C40 Cities Awards provides global recognition for cities demonstrating world-leading policies and programmes that reduce harmful emissions and improved sustainability. Cities are also chosen based on their representation of tangible climate change mitigation solutions in key sectors including building energy efficiency, low-carbon transport and climate adaptation.

Durban was selected in the Solid Waste Category for the Buffelsdraai Landfill Waste to Energy Project that converts landfill gasses into energy that is in turn fed into the grid.

C40 received more than 200 applications from 94 cities and the finalists’ projects were selected on assessment criteria including innovation, co-benefits and the ability to replicate and scale the project.

City Manager Sibusiso Sithole said over the past few years the Municipality has made good progress in developing and implementing climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives.
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EThekwini Municipality won the best Metropolitan Municipality Award in the infrastructure sector at the Kamoso Awards held in Pretoria yesterday, 26 November 2015.

It is the third time the City has scooped the prestigious award.

The awards are to encourage, motivate, recognise and reward government departments, municipalities, provinces and public bodies that excel in implementing the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). The programme aims to significantly alleviate and reduce poverty and unemployment by creating work opportunities.

Other finalists competing for the top prize in the infrastructure sector were the cities of Cape Town and Johannesburg. The infrastructure sector of the awards focused on increasing the labour intensity of government-funded infrastructure projects as well as building cost-effective quality assets.

EThekwini Mayor James Nxumalo said as part of the City’s commitment to be Africa’s most caring and liveable City by 2030 and to address the triple challenge of unemployment, inequality and poverty, the Municipality has spent R840 million on EPWP and created over 29 000 work opportunities in the 2014/15 financial year.

“Winning this award for the second consecutive year and three times overall bears testimony to our concerted efforts to transform lives by providing access to opportunities to earn an income. We have expanded the methods of labour-intensive production in government-funded projects to eThekwini residents, thus making a socio-economic impact among communities and individual beneficiaries,” he said.
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