AFTER months of setbacks, uncertainty, and administrative hurdles, the Manor Gardens Urban Improvement Precinct (UIP) is inching closer to unlocking its long-awaited funding from the eThekwini Municipality as the civic organisation now eyes a December payment deadline.

The UIP, which had originally anticipated receiving its first payment in September, said they have been left feeling very frustrated by the delay in receiving the funds from the City. What has compounded the challenge, UIP representatives say, is the lack of clarity from the City on what exactly caused the repeated delays.

The finance agreement, typically a standard administrative step for Special Rating Areas, has remained stuck in internal processes for months. “Originally, we were anticipating that we would receive our first payment in September and be able to appoint service providers to kick off the UIP operations. As you all know, this has not been the case, and we have been experiencing some major delays in the finalisation of the finance agreement with the City,” said the UIP.

But after persistent follow-ups and escalations, the UIP finally received breakthrough communication on November 7. According to the executive committee, the deputy director of programme co-ordination for Economic Development has now personally taken responsibility for ensuring the matter is resolved.

Also Read: Manor Gardens UIP kicks off with focus on security and community development

“We don’t have a clear timeline on this, but it seems that we might expect this contract to kick off in December and should expect our first payment some time in December. In the meantime, much work has been done,” said the UIP.

Under the watchful eyes of UIP administrator Janice van Heerden and UIP manager Kenneth Njibana efforts have already resulted in a growing list of interventions in the area, even without formal funding in place.

“You will see that the office has already been able to attend to numerous issues and reports within the area, and we will continue to assist wherever possible while we wait for this fund to come through. We are also finalising an agreement with the City Menders portal to use this platform for the logging and tracking of issues within the area. Once this is ready to go, we will notify the community to start adding their issues to the platform,” said the UIP.

Residents are encouraged to stay connected via the UTC WhatsApp group and contact the UIP team directly with concerns at directors@mguip.co.za.

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