This week’s question is:
When does the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) process start again? When should I hand in a suggestion or comment to my ward councillor?
Ward 99 councillor, Nicole van Dyk, answered:
The Integrated Development Plan will be reopening soon however, we still need the council to define the exact dates.
This should not stop residents from submitting their requests to their local ward councillors.
Just a few things to remember for the IDP submissions: First off, all submissions should be done via email with the subject line stipulating IDP submission followed by the suburb name.
The second thing to remember is IDP deals with Capital Expenditure projects meaning large-scale infrastructure projects.
So, for example, the projects in my ward are additional parking and pavement restitution in Linden and the large-scale replacement of water pipes in Blairgowrie – therefore projects such as a streetlight or a road marking would not fall into this submission as that comes from the Opex budget which deals with maintenance – this makes up around 65 per cent of the City’s budget.
One of the items ward councillors regularly see in IDP submissions is a call for traffic calming.
This item is slightly more tricky as the request needs to be accompanied by a traffic impact study which can either be done via the JRA or a private company.
If the study finds that traffic flow will be hindered then, of course, the project will not be accepted.
This brings me to the last point which is the IDP is a citywide process, which means it reaches over 135 wards and five million people, therefore not all projects are accepted and approved.
However, it doesn’t mean they are forgotten; we as councillors keep a standardised document which contains all the previous submissions to which we add the new ones.
Very often over time the projects are met.
Do you have a question for a ward councillor?
As a local newspaper, the Randburg Sun provides a platform for residents to learn about, understand and follow local government.
As an extension of that, there is a weekly column called Councillor’s Corner which is a platform for you, our readers, to voice your concerns or questions, so that ward councillors can respond to them.
Different, willing, ward councillors will respond to a question each week.
E-mail your burning question to aimeed@caxton.co.za and let’s get the ball rolling.
