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July 2016
Infrastructure and Mixed Use
L
ocated along the increasingly
busy Cloverdene Road between
Rynfield andDaveyton, the new
8 000m² centrewill provide quick and
convenient shopping to residents
of Cloverdene and eastern parts of
Rynfield and Daveyton.
Although the greater Benoni area
is well served in terms of shopping
centres, there is currently nothing
serving the defined catchment area
in Cloverdene within an approximate
2,5 km radius.
The vast majority of these resi-
dents fall into the lower income and
Living Standards Measure (LSM)
brackets and have limited travel op-
tions. The shopping centre is being
developed by the ONE Property Hold-
ings Group. Cloverdene Shopping
Centre offers a variety of national
brands and tenants include Shoprite
and Cashbuild, Pep, Ackermans, a
hairdressing salon and several bank-
ing facilities.
The centre includes a taxi rank and
developers are in ongoing discus-
sions with the local taxi association
to ensure that the community is
provided with a working transport
hub in the area. They are also in the
process of appointing a community
liaison officer, who will ensure that
residents are kept informed and
involved during the construction
process. The community liaison of-
ficer will facilitate the use of local
sub-contractors and skilled labour
residing in the two wards near the
retail centre. The main contractor
has been encouraged to employ
people fromthe area and this process
is being closely monitored by the
developer.
Regular meetings are being held
with the community to ensure that
the process is fair to all parties in-
volved, to ensure that the community
will benefit during the construction
phase and with possible permanent
jobs post construction. The devel-
oper will also engage with prospec-
tive tenants to further encourage
permanent employment for the local
community. “The aim is to design
a shopping centre that serves the
needs of the community through a
carefully selected tenant mix, en-
suring that the requirements of the
people in the area are met,” says
Werner Franck of ONE Property Hold-
ings. Cloverdene Shopping Centre is
scheduled for completion towards
the end of 2016 and is expected to
open in December.
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Cloverdene Shopping Centre breaks ground
Work has begun on the construction of a new shopping centre in the
Benoni suburb of Cloverdene.
T
he Department of Local Gov-
ernment and Human Settle-
ments in Bokone Bophirima in
collaboration with National Depart-
ment of Corporative Governance
and Traditional Affairs, North West
Department of Public Works and 23
local municipalities attended a two
dayworkshop on the allocation of the
Municipal Infrastructure Grant for the
2016/2017 financial year.
Bokone Bophirima has been iden-
tified as one of the municipalities in
the North West Province that is not
spending its grant effectively. To
date, somemunicipalities still have to
use a large portion of the municipal
infrastructure grant with only two
months to go before the end of the
financial year.
According to the Director: Inte-
grated Municipal Infrastructure,
Mishak Monageng, “Infrastructure
should be provided in such away that
Municipal Infrastructure Grant
employment is maximised and op-
portunities are created for enter-
prises to flourish and enhance local
economic development.”
The grant funding is currently
equitably allocated tomunicipalities
through a formula that takes into
consideration housing backlogs in
existing, established and formalised
settlements, as well as poverty pro-
files in different municipalities. The
allocation is guided by the grant
policy and this determines how these
funds will be spent.
The workshop highlighted and
addressed the issues rather than
withdrawing funds from munici-
palities without tackling and assist-
ing municipalities to use the funds
for much needed infrastructure. The
challenges includedpoor planning re-
lated to procurement processes and
political instability in municipalities.
“The scale of funding is aimed at
expanding the delivery of basic mu-
nicipal services such as water, sanita-
tion, electricity and refuse removal,”
says the Municipal Infrastructure
Support Agent (MISA) Provincial
Coordinator. MISA’s on-going work
will tackle bottlenecks in munici-
palities where the grant has not been
spent.
Members raised concerns with
regards to progress of ensuring con-
tinuous procurement and service
provider payment issues.
“The Department is aware of these
challenges and has offered support
through various statutory mecha-
nisms,” says Tshepo Phetlhu, Chief
Director Development and Planning.
Phetlhu highlighted that only
Tlokwe and Mahikeng municipalities
in the NorthWest are ready to roll out
projects as well as grant allocations
for service delivery projects for the
next financial year.
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