The City of Cape Town is planning several MyCiti bus services between Mitchell’s Plain, Khayelitsha and the city centre, mayor Patricia De Lille said on Thursday.
“This express service will provide new avenues of opportunity for our people who have been let down by the lack of capacity in passenger rail services,” De Lille said in a speech to the Cape Town city council.
“In addition, new services are also planned for transport corridors between the metro south east and the southern, northern and west coast suburbs, where passenger demands are high but rail service does not exist.”
The city had been criticised by the Cosatu and the ANC for neglecting the poor in its transport plans, which have so far focused on wealthier areas.
De Lille said the service would be rolled out by December 2013.
She said the city would continue its engagements with rail services “to improve conditions”.
The mayoral committee had also recommended that the city support the proposed process for the establishment of a “green technology manufacturing cluster” on city-owned land in the Atlantis industrial area.
“It is well known that Atlantis has been especially hard hit in these tough economic times,” De Lille said.
“The changes in world markets, coupled with changes in economic drivers in South Africa and a lack of connections, has left the area in a particularly vulnerable state. We would seek to aid investment in the area.”
The department of energy has approved power purchase agreements that will lead to the establishment of a number of renewable energy power plants and related manufacturing facilities around South African.
Investors in this sector would soon be deciding where to put their money to build up these new industries.
“Such measures would do a great deal for attracting green technology to Cape Town, positioning us well for a new competitive advantage in energy production,” De Lille said.
“Moreover, it would provide investment in Atlantis of the kind not seen for some time.
De Lille said the city had recommended the sale of council-owned property in Claremont for the purposes of restitution as a land claim.
“If approved, this sale will settle 60 Claremont land restitution claims,” she said.
“However, to reach this point, we have accepted an evaluation for the property at R27 million.”
She said the amount was below its own evaluations that had placed the value at over R40 million.
The regional land claims commissioner has said, however, that the city's assessment could not be met. - Sapa