The Department of Public Works in KwaZulu-Natal has outlined plans to breathe new life into iconic Durban buildings that have been underutilised or left vacant for a number of years.
There are plans to turn the Palm building in Durban’s South Beach area into student accommodation and the Esplanade building on Victoria Embankment into a government office centre.
MEC for the department Martin Meyer spoke to The Mercury on Tuesday on the work his department is doing to address the issues of managing government properties.
Meyer leads a department that is at the centre of two storms, that of the hijacking of buildings, which poses the risk of people dying in overcrowded makeshift accommodation or unsafe buildings, and the attack on construction projects by the construction Mafia, who are looking to extort construction companies.
Meyer said his priority was to ensure that the department works for the public, delivers on its mandate and makes the people of the province proud of KZN.
The department, said Meyer, is conducting an audit to determine the exact number of properties it owns in the province and the state of those properties. The preliminary understanding of its portfolio shows they own thousands of properties valued at more than R20 billion.
The aim is to use the audit to compile an extensive database of the department’s properties that the public will be able to access.
Meyer said they are exploring using the Palm building as student accommodation.
“We are seeking a partnership with people who are managing student accommodation and we have also engaged with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to partner with us on the project.”
He said this could help address a dire shortage of student accommodation.
“I have seen some of the accommodation that students are living in; they are in an appalling condition.”
Meyer said they were also engaging with private partners to renovate the Esplanade building.
“It is a huge building that was originally developed to house government offices. We want to take it back to use it for its original purpose.
“We are looking for a private-public partnership to renovate the building on condition that they (the private partner) will be afforded a long-term lease, but a portion of the building will be used to accommodate some of the government departments that need space in Durban and they will not pay rent,” Meyer said.
He said his department was spending R900 million each year on rent and he wanted to reduce this as much as possible.
Meyer said the department was also in the process of transferring two vacant buildings in Durban to the eThekwini Municipality, and more buildings could be transferred in the future.
“We have the authority to transfer a building to another government entity free of charge on condition they use it.
Should that not happen, we can still take the building back.”
Meyer said addressing the issue of problem buildings that have been hijacked was a top priority. “We have seen instances where buildings have been hijacked and people die as a result. I don’t want to find myself having to face such a situation.
“Most of the buildings that have been hijacked in the province are private buildings. We have been able to protect most of our vacant buildings.
We do have houses that have been taken over in areas like Mhlathuze, and we are engaging with the municipalities in those areas to retake them.
“The mandate of the department is not to rent out buildings, so the municipalities are offering to take over these buildings and they will be able to collect rent. That will save us from having to pay rates that we are currently paying on these properties,” he said.
He said the department was looking to consolidate its portfolio and streamline it. They will dispose of the properties that the department finds cannot be recycled within the government or use them for other government-related purposes.
“We own many buildings, including schools. Of the thousands of schools that we own in the rural areas, that are no longer being used, we will look at repurposing them as centres of skills development for instance, or use them for traditional courts in areas where there is a need.”
The Mercury