Informal traders miffed over taxi rank ‘moves’
The construction work is expected to take about 18 months.
Despite all the ‘madness’ happening in Port Shepstone CBD, more is still to come.
The Port Shepstone taxi rank is going to be upgraded, something that is expected to take about a year and a half.
Informal traders in the town last week left their stands and marched to the municipality to ask why they were not informed about the moving which is set to take place.
A notification was sent around last week Wednesday, saying that the taxis would be moving to the bus rank on Friday, where commuters would have to catch a taxi home.
Informal traders said they were not told anything about these plans and they were only hearing about it from other people.
On Friday morning, traders heard that taxis were not moving, meaning the traders would also not move until they were informed by the municipality.
It has been years since the municipality announced that it will be building an intermodal facility, and it seems like it is finally happening.
Spokesperson for RNM, Simon April, said the municipality appointed a developer in June last year, with the municipality and the developer concluding a long-term lease agreement which was registered at the Deeds Office in December of the same year for this project.
“The project includes 203 taxi bays on the lower level of the shopping centre, 221 long term taxi parking bays, 10 bus parking bays, 470 centre parking bays, 25 tenant parking bays, 16 off-street parking bays and 15 loading bays,” he said.
It will also allow 90 informal traders.
The value of this facility is around R550-million, excluding fitting out costs, equipment, and stock.
An update on when the traders and taxis will be moved and when the actual work will start will be revealed after the Project Steering Committee meeting that took place yesterday (Wednesday).
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