City think-tank focuses on Lamontville’s Lushezi Road

SOUTH Durban Basin Area Based Management (SDB ABM) hosted its fifth Lamontville urban management forum meeting (UMF) on Tuesday, 29 August in a bid to redress the lack of priority for the provision of municipal services to the area.
The meeting, which aims to provide strategic direction and guidance for devising a change strategy and lobby additional resources for Lamontville, saw local stakeholders and staff from the city’s line departments attend.

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The UMF has to review ways of delivering services to the community and ensure that strategic planning and decisions are implemented to fast-track service delivery, in a bid to establish the area as a place where residential, commercial and recreational spaces will be safe, clean and well-maintained. The SDB ABM has adopted the precinct management approach which entails pro-active management of the precinct.
As a way of providing strategic guidance, work streams have been developed to primarily work on a platform in which line departments share and keep track of issues that have an impact on Lamontville as a whole.
There were various discussions regarding the issues being experienced in Lushezi Road, such as illegal water connections and its impact on the deterioration of the road.
“It is imperative that work streams provide action plans, unpack strategies and methodology of how service delivery will be fast-tracked, said SDB-ABM senior manager Eurakha Singh. She further pledged her support to line function departments by playing a facilitation and co-ordination role.