Van der Bijl- Gandhi Square Citichat 10 Feb 1999

Citichat 4/99 - Feb 17/1999


Van der Bijl Square Gandhi Square

(This Citichat has been delayed since the 17th due to computer failure! Sorry, but it was out of my hands)
After a long gestation period, the van der Bijl Square redevelopment is about to happen. In many ways it will be one of the first visible examples of a Public/Private Partnership in the Johannesburg CBD and will positively affect many city users and not just commuters.The project, which is being co-ordinated by the CJP, involves the Metropolitan Council, the Southern Metropolitan Local Council, the Gauteng Provincial Government and a group of Property Owners.



The majority of property owners who encircle the van der Bijl Square Bus Terminus have been brought together to form the van der Bijl Square Consortium and. Through Gerald Olitzki and the CJP a long-term lease has been negotiated with Local Government. In terms of the Agreement between the parties, buses which previously utilised the Square for holding purposes will now be relocated to a holding area at the bottom of Rissik Street. This means that in future the Square will only be used for buses which are passing through to collect or drop passengers. This will result in only four lanes being required for bus movement in place of the current ten which, in turn, will allow the balance of the space to be freed up for landscaping.



For many years van der Bijl Square has deteriorated and has become a haunt for muggers and others who have terrorised commuters. On completion of the construction phase of the project at about the end of June, the Square will be incorporated into the Central Improvement District and will be managed by the CJP. As in the other Improvement District areas that the CJP has established and manages, the primary services which will be provided will be safety and security, cleaning, maintenance and environmental ugrading.



The commuting public will thus have the benefit of a safe, secure and clean, landscaped facility. Offices and shops surrounding the Square will share the managed environment that the Improvement District will offer. The upgraded, landscaped and managed Square will turn an existing liability into an asset for the city and will have a positive influence on the surrounding properties, hopefully inducing their enhancement and upgrading where relevant.



The capital cost of the upgrading of the Square is being shared by the majority of property owners contiguous to the Square, ABSA Properties, Commercial Union, Midland Real Estate Group, Metropolitan Properties, Nedcor Bank, Olitzki Property Holdings and Gensec Property Services (formerly Sanlam Properties). A grant has also been received from the Gauteng Provincial Government's Department of Planning and Local Government under their 'First Grant" initiative.



Had an interesting visit from a group of American students this week. They are doing an International Honours Programme in co-operation with Bard College, New York State, with one semester from January to May on "Cities in the 21sst Century - People Planning and Politics". Starting in New York, the group are spending time in Bombay (Mumbai), Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba and Washington DC. The programme is being run on a partnership basis with the Mega-Cities Project and has an emphasis on urban issues and planning. Bard College is about the same age as Johannesburg and offers a master's in environmental studies in addition to its normal undergraduate programme.



The group is being led by the Founder and President of the Mega-Cities Project, Janice Perlman whom I first met some years ago when she visited Johannesburg with the Prince of Wales Business Leaders Group. Mega-Cities is really a network that Janice has developed to share innovative solutions to the problems of the world's largest cities and has some 20 fieldsite teams based at urban research centres and universities in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe and the US. They concentrate on four priority areas, environmental regeneration, poverty and income generation, decentralisation and democratisation and women's empowerment and well-being. Seemed to be a great bunch of kids whose questions revealed not only a real interest but also a good grasp of the issues we face locally. I'd like to set up similar tours for South African students, maybe when I retire!



Maurice Smithers, chairperson of the Yeoville Community Development Forum is producing a newsletter on Yeoville. The first, 'Occasional News No 1' came out earlier this week. If you are interested, you can call Maurice at 083-653.7776 or get him on e-mail at maurice@sn.apc.org . Maurice wrote an excellent article which was published in the Saturday Star on January 23 in which he expressed his concerns/frustrations, which are mirrored by so many, over the issue of conflicting rights and the attitude of 'anything goes'. There certainly are a number of quite sharply diverging definitions of democracy around and it is necessary to get into this debate as and where it impacts on the city. Next time! Cheers