SAICE: Notes on WCPDF activities – 4 June 2022
Provincial Planning & Development Forum
The most recent meeting was held on 3 June. Unfortunately, I joined very late, but it seemed that the 26/27 May WCPDF Conference had a heavy influence on the discussion…
Western Cape Property Development Forum (WCPDF)
Conference: 26 and 27 May in the CTICC. From Surviving to Thriving
Really well organised and an interesting array of speakers.
• Dr Imtiaz Sooliman - Founder, Gift of the Givers started us with stories from the beginning and then the organisation’s various experiences along the way. He was encouraged by his spiritual advisor to get out 
there and do something, all in Turkish of which he understood not a word, but somehow, he did understand every word. One of the frustrations is officialdom that are too afraid to take common-sense decisions, witness oxygen machines designed by the state in a state hospital and built too, that hospital heads were loath to let into their hospitals!
• WCPDF Chairman, Deon van Zyl, in his reply, had a list of heroes including Gift of the Givers, OUTA, CASA, forward-looking academics, Micro-developers, those officials who make sure tenders are awarded and 
regard the private sector as an ally and politicians who say that status quo is not good enough. Unfortunately, there was also a list of anti-heroes: those who say government can go it alone, SANRAL’s cancelled tenders, budget under-spenders (not spending does not equal saving), institutions sitting on billions and not investing in South Africa, the business-as-usual brigade ignoring job losses in the lack of growth…
• The necessity of separating procurement for engineering projects from the normal SCM has been made before but was neatly put by speakers, including the fact that competence should be the first priority; however, there was some emphasis on the lack of transformation, fronting and the difference when something goes wrong: Black, it’s corruption and time, White, then it’s collusion, a fine and business as usual said one of the speakers.
• Micro-developers (not new, but nevertheless an eye-opener) who get on with it without bothering too much about obtaining approvals took over the second session. A game changer solution to the housing crisis, provided it is safely done. One just wonders about all the others who are expected to stick to the rules.
• The mayors of Drakenstein, George, Overstrand, Stellenbosch and Saldanha Bay were then given an opportunity to show how attractive their towns were to potential investors / developers. Drakenstein’s Mayor Poole handed over to Jacqui Samson, Executive Director: Planning and Development. Interesting that Drakenstein now has a Property Development Forum. All seem to have some sort of development support, but George really impressed with their claims to have brought down various response times
Further:
–Proactive property release strategy to leverage City’s property portfolio to draw investment: Ave. time from application to tabling to Council: 3 months
–Engaging with micro developers in townships– emphasis on safety
–Understanding of resident-ial market needs: according to Housing Market Study, biggest gaps are social housing & affordable housing. Like others they have a focus on renewable energy. They do have a problem with their water supply– a full Garden Route Dam but the treatment plant’s upgrade from 40 to 60Ml/day will only be completed in June 2024.
• Day 2 started with Futurist Dion Chang. Trends in property: lifestyle changes are leading to office space being used differently, people preferring outdoor restaurants [didn’t the French and others cotton onto this a long time ago?], business and residential accommodation being conflated 
(“Neighbour-good”’s Murray Clark spoke to this later), from offices to “dark stores”, 10-minute delivery times! Zero emission zones, urban air mobility – drones with 4 to 5 people, these are already in operation
printed homes…
• Dion also spoke about office space, at ground level and elsewhere, being made more attractive and inviting – after Covid people do not want to return to grey corridors and space. From what Rob Kane said this has already played out locally, his organisation spending many R-millions on their office buildings in the City.
• Alderman Eddie Andrews spoke of the City’s pledges w.r.t. eliminating load shedding, increasing law-enforcement, making public transport work, improving service delivery, cleaning public places and waterways… He placed great emphasis on forward planning, fixing and providing much needed infrastructure (this after Mayor Hill-Lewis had acknowledged that the City had been underspending and accumulated a huge backlog. [If the City’s recently published Budget is to be believed, they certainly do intend to turn things around. One hopes they will get their SCM fixed in a hurry]
• The Manager, Engineering Services Unit at the City, Gerhard Vivier, talked of all the normal engineering activities of estimating demand and then seeing how best to meet the challenges to meet those needs and Marius Wüst (Drakenstein Engineer with experience as CFO) spoke about the interaction between engineer and CFO. “Align the long-term financial plan with the Engineering masterplans and the SDF”. Drakenstein have been investing in bulk infrastructure and created 16000 new market driven residential opportunities south of the N1.
• Paul Faria, CESA’s local head, gave us a lot of sound advice: municipalities should aim at one-stop-shops, local interpretation to be avoided, preferably outsource services capacity analysis and stormwater management plans [not sure if this was Cape Town or somewhere else that triggered these], service level agreements to be tracked and reported, DC’s…, fix SCM, GET ON WITH IT.
Not part of the conference: Tali Bruk advises that Cape Town’s draft MSDF and DSDFs will be out for public comment from 6 June to 30 August. You can access the draft from the City’s Have Your Say portal.
SF 2022-06-04
