Time Square casino: how it affects locals
A full traffic impact study was undertaken before the Sun International project could be completed.
Time Square casino in Menlyn opened its doors to the public on Saturday.
The official ribbon cutting heralded the start of a new era of entertainment in Tshwane.
The second phase, construction of an 8 500 seat arena, will be completed in November.
This will be followed by phase three, The Maslow Time Square hotel, which will open in March 2018.
The R4-billion Sun International project represents the company’s largest investment in a casino development in 16 years and forms part of the green Menlyn Maine precinct.
ALSO READ: Casino floor in Menlyn completed
Construction of Time Square commenced in April 2015, with development of the casino and restaurant section fast-tracked by six months.
The casino is the second largest in South Africa with 2 000 slot machines and 60 game tables.
The time-themed casino features close to 1 000 digital screens that will be used to generate mind and mood experiences.
The casino’s construction was not without its share of problems, however.
Between 200 and 300 unemployed residents marched to Time Square’s ground floor parking on 21 March after Sun International confirmed the SA National Civics Organisation (Sanco) community representative had been dismissed in absentia.
Residents demanded the Sanco member be reinstatement and insisted on jobs for local residents.
Abram Mashishi, Sanco Tshwane treasurer, said Sanco’s concern was the local labourers.
He said 80 to 90 percent of the workers on site were not local.
“We had a meeting where we demanded that at least 30 percent of sub contractors had to be local residents.”
“We also demanded that 30 percent of Sun International workers be local residents.”
Mashishi said this week Sun International was still doing its best to meet Sanco’s demands.
“It is not final yet, but we are positive that our demands, especially in terms of local labour, will be met.”
ALSO READ: Locals demand work at Menlyn Casino
Mashishi said Sanco was also discussing the possibility of employing local companies, especially black owned companies, to assist with construction.
“These large construction companies signed a five year contract. We want to involve smaller companies with this.”
Residents have also expressed their concern about the effect the casino will have on the surrounding homes, roads and traffic.
Sun International spokesperson Zoleka Skweyiya said a full and comprehensive traffic impact assessment (TIA) was undertaken by Menlyn Maine as part of their approval for the original precinct development.
“With the introduction of our major component to the overall Menlyn Maine precinct development and the potential impact we would have on the surrounding traffic
configuration with an additional 4000 bays and the consequences of differing peak traffic flows relative with respect to the gaming business and the Arena shows, we were required to amend the TIA,” said Skweyiya.
She said implementing the guideline elicited further substantial changes to the surrounding road traffic network.
“The revised TIA was approved and the additional road network changes have been completed and a comprehensive traffic management plan has been formulated taking into account the various peaks during major shows in the arena or major casino events.”
She said both Sun International and Menlyn Maine made financial contributions to the road infrastructure in the area.
In terms of job creation, Skweyiya said an estimated 10 000 jobs were created during the construction phase.
“After completion, Time Square will create an estimated 2 200 permanent jobs, with 1 228 jobs provided by Sun International and a further 972 jobs through service providers.”
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