2009-10-22: Mayor Masondo visits Alexandra Renewal Project and suburbs in Region E
JOHANNESBURG Executive Mayor, Clr Amos Masondo, will on Thursday (22 October) visit the Alexandra Renewal Project which recently won an award from UN Habitat for its successful revitalisation of an urban environment.
Mayor Masondo's visit forms part of his annual Mayoral Roadshow and will also include stopovers in the suburbs of Bruma, Cyrildene, Orange Grove, Kew and Lombardy West in the City's Region E.
The Alexandra Renewal Project (ARP) was launched in 2001 to bring social, economic, physical and institutional developments to the historic township. Among its objectives were to fix urban infrastructure, build houses and parks, convert hostels into family units and change the urban landscape of Alexandra.
In honouring the ARP the UN Habitat said "the project has seen some 7,000 families relocated from the banks of a polluted local river to better settlements." Urban greening was incorporated in the scheme which led to development of parks and recreation areas.
New houses and schools were constructed and many other facilities are being refurbished. New clinics improved access to healthcare; while 46,000 hygienic refuse bins have been distributed, drastically improving garbage collection.
More than 70 percent of the residents now have access to water and sanitation and 88 percent have safe electricity, a major milestone in a place once referred to as "Dark City", said the report.
The Mayoral Visit will include a stopover at the recently opened Pan-Africa Shopping Centre with its 40 000 m² of commercial area, a taxi holding facility that can accommodate 1 000 vehicles and 350 stalls for informal traders.
Another development is a 520 rented-room facility on the Far East Bank of the Jukskei River which was planned as an eco-friendly project. The facility is provided with solar geysers, a vegetable garden, communal bathrooms as well as community and playground facilities.
At the K206 Housing project Mayor Masondo will hand over the keys to a home to one of the new residents of the largest housing development thus far in Alexandra. The project consists of 1760 plots. Each plot will have a free-standing, double-storey RDP house as the primary unit. In addition, 1078 of the plots will also have secondary structures consisting of 2 rooms with shared facilities. This will provide 2 156 affordable rental opportunities within the development.
Mayor Masondo will also have an opportunity to see some of the challenges that still remain within Alexandra with regards to housing, the construction of illegal structures, many of them on the banks of the river, and the need for a new community centre. He will also visit the Helen Joseph and Madala Hostels that will soon be demolished and replaced by new developments.
Mayor Masondo will be accompanied by members of the Mayoral Committee and senior officials of Johannesburg, including the director of the ARP, Mr Dumisani Job Sithole. The visit will also include a meeting with the Alexandra Development Forum.
In other parts of Region E the Mayoral Group will be informed about the City's efforts to regulate illegal hawkers and shebeens in Bruma, Cyrildene and Orange Grove, the illegal occupation of factories and structures in Kew and the effect of pollution in the Bruma River.
