The City of Joburg leadership has vowed to usher in a new, bigger and better Lillian Ngoyi precinct.
Joburg MMC for transport, Kenny Kunene, and Mayor, Kabelo Gwamanda, launched the rehabilitation programme of Lillian Ngoyi Street (formerly Bree Street) yesterday following last July’s gas explosion.
The July 19 explosion, which happened during evening rush hour, resulted in the death of one person, and injured a number of others.
Speaking during Tuesday’s sod turning event attended by officials and city manager Floyd Brink, Kunene decried lack of support for the rehabilitation by various stakeholders including the provincial cabinet, led by Premier Panyaza Lesufi.
“A disaster happened, yet we are still sitting here as the City of Johannesburg, without an infrastructure grant. We are sitting as the city having to take the budget from other service delivery projects in order to implement this project. We are having to put the city manager and the group CFO and the administrators under pressure to move monies around so that we can respond to this disaster. One must ask the question that what does that say about inter-governmental relations. One must ask how does the provincial and national government take the citizens of Joburg?” he said.
However, Kunene said in spite of the challenges, the city will ensure that it comes out of this challenge with a bigger and better Lillian Ngoyi precinct.
“This project will not end with the rehabilitation of the street only. We are going to see a new face and phase of Lillian Ngoyi. You are going to see a different Lillian Ngoyi. You are going to see different parkways and walkways. You are going to see a different precinct. It is going to be beautiful. That is why they say, after the storm, sunshine comes. So, this is not just a reconstruction of the road, but we are also reconstructing the precinct itself as a sign of what we want to do in the inner city,” Kunene added.
Gwamanda said the government needs to do more to invest in infrastructure development within the city, adding that the private sector, through investment in the city, continues to show confidence in the city centre as a hub of business and economic activity.
“It is important to mention that the City of Joburg has many pockets of excellence. If any of you paid attention to the premier’s State of the Province speech last night, 20% of his address was based on the work of this city. In focussing on what we are doing right, our utility City Power is contributing to a strategy to end load shedding. Even some of our other entities were dragged into the address without us knowing about it. Pikitup was mentioned because other municipalities are failing to do their jobs,” he said.
The Star