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Housing and economic development in the PHA
The PHA is ready to contribute to the housing needs on the Cape Flats. But housing developments cannot be allowed to take place on good agricultural land with the best water available or in areas where the local wetlands and ecosystems will be threatened. Local community organisations has been engaging council for over three years now and is intimately and pro-actively involved in addressing the challenges in the PHA, identifying opportunities and most importantly offering solutions.
They have put together exciting proposals for the orderly development of the PHA which propose a win-win situation that attempts to integrate the various activities such as agriculture, commercial, industrial, smallholdings and the local ecology while at the same time addressing food security, water security, job creation, economic development and attracting new public and private investment on the Cape Flats. These proposals if realised, will create a huge urban rejuvenation project that will have a major and positive socio-economic impact on the PHA and on the Cape Flats with spin-offs for the whole city. These proposals seek to address the slow rate of transformation of our living and public spaces, joblessness, under- development and the legacy of the debilitating and hated Apartheid spatial design.
The proposals amongst others, strongly recommends that the extension of the R300 and the proposed Rail Link be built through the PHA as a matter of urgency. This puts the basic infrastructure in place to support sustainable development not only in the PHA but on the whole Cape Flats. The government’s Proposed Ring Road is hugely unpopular, mired in controversy, insensitive to ecosystems in its path and simply over-kill.
It proposes a new Strandfontein Road commercial corridor or ‘main road’ from Baden Powel Drive to the N2 supported by the first Bus Rapid Transport system on the Cape Flats. The Strandfontein Road upgrade has the unique distinction of being the first road in the city to be designed to accommodate the Bus Rapid Transport System.
It further proposes a housing component between the Proposed Rail Link and the Proposed Sheffield Road Alignment. This has the good sense to put housing close to major public transport options, work opportunities and leisure activities. It is envisaged this will lead to and encourage investment in and upgrade of the Edith Stevens Wetland Park, Zeekoevlei, the Cape Flats coastal areas and other conservation areas on the Cape Flats. This will unlock the tourism potential of the Cape Flats by attracting local, national and foreign tourists.
In terms of agriculture, emerging farmers show the most appetite and vision to take the PHA into the next millennium. The PHA has the ideal location, is close to markets, and has proven water resources and the ideal micro-climate. More than 600ha of arable land is available for land reform. This is the enabling environment to establish an alternative agricultural paradigm involving emerging farmers, agroecological production, provide support structures for new farmers, establish farmers’ co-operatives, introduce farmer’s markets, develop value-adding and processing operations, etc.
Conclusion:
The Philippi Horticultural Area can offer Cape Town much more than can be quantified in terms of just land for development. The provincial government has quietly and unilaterally in late 2011 approved the redrawing of the urban edge in the PHA to allow the 475ha 20 000-unit housing development to proceed. This is short-sighted and not in the interest of the people of the city. This proposed COSATO development will occupy the best agricultural land with the best available water resources in the PHA. Within months of tampering with the urban edge, a number of new proposals have been received including another 300ha housing development on land that has fresh produce growing!
The PHA is at a crossroads. It is our civic duty to bring the issues around the PHA to the attention of the greater Cape Town population because in the end, what happens here will affect everyone in the city. The PHA has historically made a huge contribution in the lives of the people of Cape Town. This can continue provided an integrated approach is adopted to address the challenges and take advantage of the many opportunities she has to offer. For more information or to attend our public meeting please call Nazeer @ 0727243465 or sceass@gmail.com
Nazeer A. Sonday
Secretary: Schaapkraal Civic and Environmental Association-SCEA
195 Schaapkraal Road, Philippi Horticultural Area
Tel: 0727243465, 021 7043366
Email: nasonday@gmail.com
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