CAPITAL: The Voice of Business Issue 1, 2015 | Page 49

URBAN RENEWAL

We want to help sort out the downtown problems
Yunus Asmall, director of Asmall & Sons
(Pty) Ltd, a clothing retail company that
has been operating in the city for 81
years, had this to say about urban renewal:
WE would like to see toilets provided for the
taxi rank downtown, broken pavements
fixed, potholes repaired, street trading
better regulated, and skips or garbage

cans provided in the downtown area for
vendors, taxi commuters and pedestrians.
We would like a plan to be rolled out to
sort out the breakdown of law and order
downtown — especially the planning
violations and businesses colonising the
pavements and roads. We would like more
regulation of informal businesses ...
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Medical precinct will renew the lower CBD
Midlands
Medical
Centre has changed
the face of the area
in which it is located,
in downtown Pietermaritzburg. In its own
way, it has carried out
something of an urban
renewal programme. Michael Wright,
Midlands Medical Centre hospital manager, comments:

THE location of Midlands Medical Centre
(MMC) Private Hospital at the lower
end of the CBD undoubtedly poses
various challenges, while also placing a
responsibility on the hospital to improve
the appearance of this precinct.
The hospital has long been a landmark
in the area covering Masukwana, Williams
and Langalibalele streets. Over the years,
various additions have been ...
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Involve city’s inhabitants to share in a common vision
Conco Bryan Architects
have been involved
in a number of landmark projects in Pietermaritzburg, including:
Hulamin’s Campsdrift
hot mill and Edendale
offices; the old Pietermaritzburg prison museum; the first revamp of Hayfields Mall, Scottsville Mall
and Parklane Spar; the original 50 Durban Road mall; Motor City at Chatterton;
and the Umgungundlovu District Municipality office conversion in Langalibalele
Street.
Rafeq Hansa, associate at Conco Bryan,
comments on what he believes should
happen with urban renewal in Pietermaritzburg:

URBAN renewal in contemporary times is a
highly evolved, comprehensive economic
engine, reform mechanism and policy
designed to address a complexity of
urban problems. These include unhealthy
conditions, failed or obsolete buildings,
inadequate transportation, poor sanitation,
lack of proper services and facilities,
congestion and the sociological correlates
of urban decay, such as rampant crime. It
involves an unreserved commitment to a
process of rejuvenation of urban areas and
settlements in a well-structured manner.
By extension it means:
• raising and structuring finance for
regeneration;
• selecting investment and development
partners ...
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Capital | Issue 1 |

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