In reply to the Municipal Manager’s full page advertisement in the North Coast Courier of March 2 wherein professionals are accused of substandard submissions to the Building Control Department of the KwaDukuza Municipality, the type of professionals who deal with the building department are project managers, architects, land surveyors, town planners, attorneys and conveyancers, not only from Ballito but from all over South Africa.
They cannot all be generally negligent.
To imply that these professionals are generally ignorant in dealing with building project submissions and applications is somewhat reckless and not conducive for constructive discussion for improvements to the system.
We all know of the municipality’s bureaucratic ways and lengthy delays that occur in replying to building project matters.
It is not unheard of that project files are declared lost, six months after submission, when personally submitted by hand to the relevant officials.
There are many other examples but again this would not be constructive to list. The crux of the matter is that developers are incurring substantial financial costs in interest to banks because of delays being experienced in approval of plans. This in turn delays the transfer of residential sites and hampers cash flow.
This is a serious matter, resulting in developers potentially going bankrupt. Developers cannot thrive in this environment and will go elsewhere to the detriment of KwaDukuza Municipality, professionals and local business.
Ballito is a very popular destination for developers and has been so for a long time. We desperately need development. It brings employment, tourism and additional rates for the municipality.
This should be our goal for the municipality, professionals and developers. It would not be wise to enter into a mudslinging exercise but rather to engage in ways to facilitate and fast track the present system. An example would be to introduce, as per other municipalities, an additional charge to fast track submissions.
This is particularly important for large projects. We need to improve the system for the benefit of KwaDukuza as a whole.
One way is to re-introduce a Developers’ Forum with the municipality. Through dialogue much can be achieved. Let us revive the Developer’s Forum and iron out our frustrations. I sincerely hope the Municipal Manager takes up this challenge.
CARLOS MENDES
Professional Project Manager, KwaDukuza
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