CIDs more than just another place

Published in "The Lowvelder", Friday, 12 March 2010, Page 7, by Catharina Robbertze.

NELSPRUIT - Approximately 65 per cent of citizens live in urban areas and urbanisation brings challenges such as the degeneration of cities and urban decay.

City improvement districts (CIDs) were created with the aim of preventing this and facilitating the upliftment of distressed areas. This concept was brought to South Africa in the mid 1990s and has since contributed to the upliftment of areas such as Braamfontein in Johannesburg. This phenomena has been present in the Riverside Park Precinct Association (RPPA) CID and the Nelspruit CBD CID for years, but has only recently been fully functional, due to ongoing construction.

However, last week stakeholders gathered to attend the launch of the RPPA CID as operations in this area is now in full swing.

The area covered is both sides of the R40 from the R36 to Sabie to the northern border of the Government Complex. This includes office, residential, retail and leisure developments.

According to Mr. James Aling of HL Hall & Sons, the CID was formed as a vehicle to manage issues of the property owners at Riverside Park, and interim levies have only been charged since July 2008 once the precinct was substantially developed and in November, a manager was appointed to implement goals.

At the RPPA CID, the focus has thus far been on enhancing the public space and improving safety and security in the area. As this has now been dealt with, the next step was to create a marketing committee and the new website, www.riversidepark.co.za, was introduced last week. Now the area has to be branded and demarcated.

According to Aling the precinct has already invested R2,5 billion into the node and the city and they plan on investing a further R0,5 to

R3 billion in the next phase of the CID. They will also be creating 9 000 jobs on top of the almost 7 500 that were created in the first phase. The precinct provides the Mbombela Local Municipality with between R750 000 and R1,2 million in rates and is also a major attraction for retail tourists from all over Mpumalanga, Mozambique and Swaziland.

Furthermore, the CID has also implemented a number of corporate social responsibility programmes such as recycling in the precinct itself, other community events and the encouragement of the Nelspruit CBD CID.

Ms Anne Steffny, director at Urban Genesis, explained what a CID is all about, how it benefits a community and what is still needed.

She explained that such a district utilises the services provided by the public sector, but also combines these with those provided by the private sector. By doing this they want to create a sustainable environment with solutions that are inclusive and sustainable.

Steffny said the most important part of implementing a successful CID is to get the residential and commercial community involved and to create a sustainable environment. "The processes are long and its about trust," she said. She explained that it is only once residents buy into the idea that they will end up with "more than a place".

Aling agreed that even though residents pay higher rates, they receive a better service. "The CID is about the common good and creating partnerships in the community".