BuaNews (Tshwane)
26 February 2002
Pretoria — The City of Johannesburg has invested more than R60-million to provide and upgrade roads in the Sandton area in preparation for the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).
Addressing the media in Johannesburg today, Mayor Amos Masondo said the gesture illustrated the resolve of the city to get the basics right and defined a new landscape for the future economy of Johannesburg.
'As local government we are pleased to be investing in the infrastructure that will form a nucleus of our long-term strategy for the City of Johannesburg,' the mayor said.
He added that a traffic management structure for the summit had been developed by the city around two of the main venues, the Sandton Convention Centre and NASREC.
More than 60 000 delegates are expected to attend the summit, which starts on 26 August and ends on 6 September.
The Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA), established to assume responsibility for the management and development of road infrastructure in the city, has been assigned to oversee the whole process.
JRA managing director Mavela Dlamini said Sandton was prone to traffic congestion as it was originally designed for residential purposes.
He added that the transport system in Sandton would have to satisfy all the transport needs.
The project consists of project management and visible service delivery and would be concluded in July.
'Additional lanes would be created to avoid bottlenecking around the area,' he said.
The city will invest in alternatives to private car use, increased capacity utilization and an expanded network for key economic nodes.
The summit's consortium, WS4 has been appointed to oversee the process.
Asked if the upgrading and restructuring would not affect services around the area, WS4 chairman, George Hattingh said alternative arrangements had been put in place.
These include working off peak hours and weekends, and the provision of devised traffic information to road users.
He added that in a bid to empower black businesses, 38 percent of construction would be allocated to small, medium and micro enterprises (ADF3).
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2002 BuaNews. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
