Pierre Voges
Picture: BRIAN WITBOOI
The makings of a liveable city are that it must be close enough to sea water that is warm enough to swim in. It must have great architecture, new and old.
It must have hipster economics with youngsters being creative.
It must have sleazy bars that are safe enough to go to, and big and little theatres. It must have lots of protests. It must be multicultural and be accepting of gays and lesbians.
It must have bicycle lanes, trams and a good bus system.
Nelson Mandela Bay has all the ingredients for such a city, with the exception of the bicycle lanes and an efficient bus system, according Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA) chief executive Pierre Voges.
He was quoting an article published in an English magazine.
“For me, that’s the philosophy on how you can build a city that is liveable for all. Nothing smart and sophisticated,” Voges said.
The MBDA, an entity tasked with propelling catalytic projects that spur growth through private sector investment, will be driving some of the metro’s biggest economic undertakings over the next five to 10 years. These include:
Developing the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium precinct into a hive of outdoor, sports-related lifestyle activities;
Driving a multibillion-rand project at the Happy Valley (Telkom Park) precinct;
The Bayworld redevelopment;
The revitalisation of the Baakens Valley precinct;
Completing the Singapi Street development into a thriving tourism and heritage area; and
The Schauderville and Korsten master plan, which details projects to address socioeconomic ills.
All eyes will be on the MBDA over the next few years to see how the upgrade of the Bayworld Snake Park and Oceanarium unfolds.
The mega project, set to cost about R350-million, will not only change the face of the derelict facility, but it is also expected to attract throngs of tourists to the Port Elizabeth beachfront.
Voges said the first roundtable discussions with scientists, marine biologists and experts from u Shaka Marine World and Cape Town’s aquarium had been held to discuss the way forward for Bayworld.
The discussions are centred on whether or not it should be a research institute or an education and entertainment facility.
“We had to start talking about what we want from Bayworld. Is it going to be a marine or maritime research institution? They don’t make money, they cost money.
“Or are you going to bring the edutainment – entertainment like dolphins – but then you have a public outcry.
“Or are we going to have a bit of both? We need to decide by the end of this year what we want.”
He said acting city manager Johann Mettler wanted a decision made by the end of the year about what would take place at Bayworld.
“Research institutes these days suck up money; it must have a funding stream. Where are we going to get that kind of money? Edutainment is much more of a money-spinner. People pay their gate fees and it brings in tourists.
“I’m not going to say what my view is, but you have very anti-captivity views, anti-dolphins views.”
MBDA spokesman Luvuyo Bangazi said some of the ideas that were being bandied about were animation and virtual tours.
“We spoke about a lot of options like virtual reality – bringing in animation, so that you can climb into a vessel and it takes you under the sea without moving.
“It’s not either/or, but all of it is being put on the table. We have to go out and get more stakeholders involved.
“We’re going to do public surveys to get what people want, but we are not going to please everyone.
“The anti-animal captivity lobby group is probably way ahead of us with their lobbies,” Bangazi said.
Voges said: “There are people who are adamant that dolphins should not happen. Are we going to swing their views? We must consult.
“I have to go find the money to sell [Bayworld] as a commercial entity that is able to bring money out of the system.
“It is easier then to find the money than something you build and it must be subsidised in the future. That doesn’t always work.
“There are only two cities that have dolphin licences, Durban and Port Elizabeth. We still have the licence. So, is that an asset or a liability?”
The agency has, over the past 13 years, developed around the city centre, Helenvale and New Brighton.
The projects, including the R40-million upgrade at the Donkin Reserve, Govan Mbeki Avenue, Tramways building and Bird Street, have led to an upgrade of the surrounding properties.
“It has been very slow over the last 10 years, but there are some very good examples where public investment has started to sweat, started to work for the private investor.
“People say if you didn’t make the Donkin a happy place to be, we wouldn’t have invested in the surrounding properties.
“The idea wasn’t to fix the Donkin only. The idea was to send out a positive message to those private property owners who were quite sceptical.
“One rand of public sector investment starts to grow into R5, R10 or R20 of private sector investment,” Voges said.
But while good innovation projects might be built in pockets around the city, in order to get the private sector on board, investors wanted to see that the areas were safe and clean.
They wanted to see that they could get more rands out of their investments, Voges said.
“If the cleansing improves and security improves, eventually you create that confidence.
“Sometimes it’s like a big wheel stuck in the mud. The battle is to start pushing it, but as you start pushing it, it starts to move faster and faster.
“Cleansing and security contracts are not actually our job. It’s a municipal job. Why do we do it? It’s to plug a hole.
“The MBDA is a company that must be catalytic and initiate economic development,” Voges said.
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