With a population growth of 7,9% Cape Town is the fastest growing City in South Africa, a factor that largely affects suburban planning, says Johan van Baalen, expert in accountability and local governance.
Van Baalen facilitated a recent meeting held in Kuils River to discuss the priorities that had been listed at a property owners conference for Ward 8 last year. This, to develop a model in terms of available budget in the short and medium term to sustain communities in the ward.
In line with the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) of the City of Cape Town, the vision for Ward 8 is to create a living environment where people can make choices for prosperity and sustainability.
“The objective is to create access to education facilities, opportunities for entrepreneurs and job opportunities in small and medium-sized enterprises in the education and service sectors,” said Van Baalen. According to Van Baalen, residents can expect inevitable tariff increases to sustain service delivery for the growing population of the city.
Capital budget allocation
In Ward 8 projects approved in the 2023-’24 capital budget allocation encapsulated several public park projects in the two neighbourhoods, some already completed, and others on schedule. They include new play equipment at De Oude Spruit Park in Protea Park (R32 500); fencing at Koi Park (R25 000) and Bluegill Park (R40 000) in Kuils River that have been completed in the last financial year.
The R80 000 license-plate-recognition-camera project on the corner of Bottelary and Amandel road is on schedule, as is the traffic calming in Hoopenberg Street (R35 000); job creation for parks (R242 500) and capacity building for senior citizens (R30 000). The half million rand project to build pathways at Hoopenberg stream in Kuils River is underway but currently behind schedule.
Extra money had to be added to the quarter million rand operational budget for job creation by means of the parks project to appoint more contractors to maintain public parks in the ward, according to Ward Councillor Marian Nieuwoudt.
For the coming financial year another R220 000 was allocated for the gym equipment at Hoopenberg Street, and R230 000 for the Koi Park upgrade; R270 000 for park maintenance and R100 000 for landscaping at the ward entrances. Furthermore R9 500 000 was budgeted for dualling of Bottelary Road between Amandel and Saxdowns roads; and R150 000 for overtime payment for traffic services.
Priorities
The top-three priorities in terms of urgency listed during engagement with residents in May 2023, are the widening of the Brackenfell Boulevard bridge over the N1 to ease traffic congestion; special rating areas for Protea Heights and Kuils River to promote safety in the area, and an engineers tally for speed bumps in the area.
Nieuwoudt said special ratings areas are needed to create more secure neighbourhoods and to prevent the prevalence of people living on the streets.
“In the absence of a social safety net, the homeless are streaming into our neighbourhoods. Although there are no sqautters in Brackenfell, there are numerous homeless people, some of whom grew up in Brackenfell, that need a safe place to sleep.
“The City’s unit for street people have continuous contact with them, but many refuse to accept help to be reintegrated with their families and communities as their life on the streets is sustained by residents who provide food. For that I do not have the answers,” says Nieuwoudt.
Although the City has no control over the widening of the Brackenfell Boulevard Bridge, a Sanral jurisdictional area, Nieuwoudt said the City has seen movement on the issue and will continue to place pressure on Sanral.
Public comments on the 2024-’2025 budget closed on 30 April, to be tabled before City council for approval at the end of this May.
