CAPITAL: The Voice of Business Issue 1, 2015 | Page 44

URBAN RENEWAL

A

round the globe, developing
countries face the challenges of
rapid urbanisation. With it comes
the problem of overcrowding, a
growth in informal settlements or slums,
overburdened thoroughfares, increasing
pollution and many other undesirable
effects.
In South Africa, two thirds of the
population now live in urban areas,
according to a 2013 World Bank survey.
This movement of people to urban areas
increased from 52% in 1990 to 62% in 2011,
and by 2030, Africa’s rate of urbanisation is
expected to have overtaken Asia’s.
As one of the nine largest cities in South
Africa, Pietermaritzburg’s municipality,
Msunduzi, in partnership with the
KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative
Governance and Traditional Affairs
(COGTA) embarked on an urban renewal
programme towards the end of 2012.
The programme, known as PURP
(the Pietermaritzburg Urban Renewal
Programme), is “aimed at restoring the
pride and dignity of the citizens of the
municipality” said Madeleine Jackson,
Plaatjies, Manager: Office of the Municipal
Manager at Msunduzi Municipality.
It was instituted, she said, “as a result of
a number of challenges within the heart of
the city centre that soon, if not attended
to, would result in serious urban decay”
.
Some of the challenges identified
included:

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Urban
Renew
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