The Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA), on behalf of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM), intends to beef up security in the Port Elizabeth CBD and has called on interested parties to submit plans to provide private security services for the area.
MBDA CEO Pierre Voges says that the provision of security is within the area of responsibility of the Agency as it is required in terms of its Mandate approved by Council to “assist with provision and management of services, amenities and security” adding that unless there is security any attempt at urban renewal is doomed to failure.
“Quite simply, people are not going to visit places where they do not feel safe and secure, and that is true wherever you go in the world.”
He says that Parliament Street is a case in point where providing security was a critical element of the upgrading of the area and that when it was withdrawn the area began to retreat from the popularity it once enjoyed when people felt safe.
Voges points to a survey conducted after the private company providing security for the area was withdrawn which showed that confidence in Parliament Street as a safe and secure venue had dipped significantly.
He says the focus of the new security contract will be Parliament Street, the Donkin Reserve and Western Road where the MBDA will be working with members of the South African Police Service.
“The City has ploughed a considerable amount of money into the upgrading of the Donkin Reserve and the art works that form part of Route 67. It makes no sense not to provide effective security for the area in order to prevent the works of art from being vandalised.”
The purpose of the City’s investment into public areas is to eventually attract private sector investment. The owners of the Grand Hotel invested R20 million into the redevelopment, but such an investment will not have the desired economic impact in the absence of security in upgraded areas.
Voges says providing security in Western Road is part of a new phase of urban renewal in the CBD adding that it is this road, Parliament Street and the area around Belmont Terrance “that is the problem as far as security is concerned”.
The MBDA is also putting the focus firmly on Bird Street where there has been investment around the legal and educational sectors and a new hotel on the site occupied by the old Sunnyside Hotel is also about to go under construction.
With regard to Belmont Terrace/Bird Street Voges says a professional design team has been appointed and capital allocated for the project from the MBDA budget. Currently, he says, an extensive public participation process is underway and construction should start in April next year.
“We have succeeded in making the Donkin Reserve and Route 67 a wonderful tourist attraction for the Metro. We now have to ensure that the people of Nelson Mandela Bay and visitors to the city are able to access the area and enjoy this unique tribute to former President Nelson Mandela knowing that they are safe and secure.”
Alan Straton
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