INVESTING in areas that fall under traditional leadership comes with certain complications that usually take a long time to resolve. This was admitted by eThekwini Municipality recently at the briefing it presented to its Economic Development and Planning Committee.

This comes after the communities of Umgababa and Lovu townships invaded a large tract of land near Karridene that is earmarked for the development of the KZN Automotive Supplier Park for the automotive industry.
The community backed off after the land grabs were denounced by the area’s tribal leadership.

Also read: Chief distances himself from land invasion

eThekwini spokesperson Lindiwe Khuzwayo said the city has identified a few nodes that will be developed industrially, and these include Umbumbulu, Umgababa Recreational Beach node, Umkomaas, Magabheni, and Craigeburn.

“Traditional land under the jurisdiction of Amakhosi (chiefs) has more challenges, which include but are not limited to the following: The land has to be released from Act 70 of 70 which is agricultural land, and most of the land has environmental constraints, lack of sewer capacity, not enough road network to trucks for deliveries, etc.

“The City will create small treatments works which will be used to accommodate sewage flow from these developments,” said Khuzwayo.

Besides the automotive park, the other investments include a R500m cement and steel plant at the Ezimbokodweni Industrial Park and a R20b development at the old airport. Khuzwayo added that in order to attract investments into these areas, there needs to be an improvement in the City’s capacity and a relaxation of environmental impediments.

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