Letter: Why build a university on the coastal belt, straining already inadequate resources?

Bruni Ammann of Umdloti writes an open letter to the directors of Tongaat-Hulett: Your proposal to build a university (for up to 10 000 students!) right on Umdloti’s doorstep, is a big slap in the face for all Umdloti residents!

Have you actually thought about the implications of such action?

Traffic congestion – parking in Umdloti is already inadequate – and the local infrastructure will be overwhelmed.

The sense of place will be ruined and the sewerage systems, electricity grid and water supply are already under strain. They will never cope with all the additional people.

Why not build that ADvTech school more inland i.e. south of the airport or north of Cornubia instead of ruining a popular coastal resort? Tongaat-Hulett owns enough land around those places and there is infrastructure already.

Why would you even consider a “coastal village university”?

Is it necessary for a coastal village to be spoilt with a university of all things, and for every nook and cranny of our beautiful coastline to be built up and plastered with buildings that architects don’t even try to design to fit in with the current surroundings. Didn’t in the late 19th century the British Government hand over the rights to plant and grow sugarcane for 1 Pound to Sir Liege Hulett?

And wasn’t it the company, a long time ago, which cut down most of the forests in order to plant sugar cane?

Therefore, it would be highly appreciated by many people if you would do a good deed such as re-forest the small left-over forest between the M27 and the lagoon (the land proposed for the university), a small token compared to what your company has destroyed.

Today in what remains of the small forest that your company has managed not to destroy (for the moment) along Bellamont Road are still buck, guinea fowl and other wildlife.

It is clear that TongaatHulett is not interested in preserving anything for the future generations. When will someone at TongaatHulett stop and think that maybe it is time to give back and not keep taking? The rest of that land should remain residential only – i.e. like the Hawaan forest estate in Umhlanga.

Then, by any chance, even the equestrian sports ground could remain there and would make an additional attractive feature in that estate. And, all the people who work there now could keep their jobs and homes!

Please think twice before starting with a monster development that does not fit in our little village!

Melanie Clarkson, marketing executive of Tongaat Hulett Developments replies:

Thank you for the interest expressed and for allowing us the opportunity to share our views.

Sibaya Coastal Precinct is over 1000 hectares (10 square kilometres) in extent and stretches from the Ohlanga to uMdloti estuaries.

We have conceptualised this to become a living, vibrant, mixed-use precinct offering a wide range of residential, commercial, recreational and tourist related opportunities. With the magnificent Hawaan Forest and coastal forest along the M4, we have committed to retaining more than 60% of the development as green open space. This equates to more than 600 hectares of natural green spaces, all which are part of the recently formed Sibaya Conservation Trust.

The Trust, which is funded by current and future property owners of The Precinct, has the sole mandate of rehabilitating, protecting and maintaining these natural assets that we, as members of the public, have come to enjoy over the years. So sustainable preservation into the future, is most certainly a legacy we want to maintain.

Taking the preservation of this natural asset into account, our mandate as a company is to extend the value chain and facilitate the optimal utilisation of the land asset.

The eThekwini Municipality have adopted a comprehensive and very clear framework plan under the IDP that provides the necessary context for unlocking inclusive economic growth and development of the city.

This framework expresses the ambitions of the municipality and shows the potential of the northern corridor to become a growth corridor of the province.

Hence, our development plans are aligned to collaboratively execute these plans into reality and Sibaya Coastal Precinct has a key role to play in this regard. An identified driver of this growth is within the sector of education.

In a city with 3,7 million people with high poverty and a high level of exclusion, affordability and access to education are paramount towards achieving the socio-economic goals of not only the province but the country as a whole. And this is why we are actively pursuing a higher education facility for the region at Sibaya Coastal Precinct.

In 2016, 620 000 matriculants wrote final exams in South Africa with 450 000 of these passing with a bachelor’s degree exemption.

Whist these 450 000 prospective students entered the market in 2017, only ±160 000 first-year students are provided for in the national universities. Within KwaZuluNatal, roughly 148 000 matriculants wrote final exams of which 99 000 entered the education market with a university exemption, and only 22 000 first year student admissions were provided for.

In total this left a staggering 65% of matric students, with exemption, unable to find a seat in a tertiary facility.

The new tertiary institution will therefore complement the existing tertiary institutions in the region by increasing the quantity of spaces available, whilst curbing the effects of ‘brain drain’ and positioning KwaZulu-Natal in a place to attract talent from outside the province. These figures demonstrate the urgency for higher education facilities and the country can illafford delays to the delivery of these tangible opportunities to enhance our educational offerings.

We desperately need to retain our youth on our shores and bring more young people into the economic activities and work force.

We have just commenced the process of an environmental assessment for the proposed delivery of a tertiary institution at Sibaya Coastal Precinct.

The process includes engagement with many stakeholders and includes the assessment of site alternatives with specialist studies that address topics such as traffic, infrastructure capacity and delivery, need and desirability, environmental impact, social and socio-economic assessments and heritage studies.

In this process, one acknowledges that development changes the landscape and impacts people in various ways, and we will continue to engage with all stakeholder communities in an effort to reduce negative impact whilst maximising the positive potential of every development that takes place through multiple measures. Communities play a critical role, as stakeholders and partners, towards ensuring the appropriate economic growth and sustainability of an area and we value the contribution that the broader communities of the region bring.

Tongaat Hulett, as developers of land, facilitate new investment into the region and together with our partners deliver infrastructure and capacity that in turn leads to increased economic activity, economic growth, significant numbers of new jobs (both temporary and permanent), and substantial quantums of rates generation for cities.

Besides the economic upside, our all-inclusive policy seeks to design precincts that cater to the needs of all South Africans, that bring urban amenities closer to residents and that optimise mixed-use urban planning, with transformational goals high on our agenda.