GUGU MBONAMBI
Plans to demolish the Early Morning Market in Durban’s Warwick Junction to make way for a multi-million- rand shopping mall have been put on ice as a result of various legal wrangles.
Yesterday the municipality’s executive committee withdrew the decision taken in April 2009 to lease certain land and aerial servitude rights to Warwick Mall (Pty) Ltd for the proposed R350 million development to go ahead.
Carlos Correia, of Isolenu, the mall developer, submitted a letter to the city’s strategic projects unit in February advising the municipality that the company had decided to review its development plans.
Deputy mayor Logie Naidoo said plans for the Warwick precinct development including the mall and infrastructure upgrade were to have be completed before the World Cup last year.
“But we had opposition from the Early Morning Market traders... The matter has gone to court where the traders are challenging the city in terms of this development,” he said.
Naidoo said the city had initially intended to build a mall and upgrade the existing transport node. The mall developers were given aerial rights by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) and the entire project had to be stopped because of the court interdict.
“That means the infrastructure that we intended won’t take place. The R300m from government has been lost now, so we don’t have the funding,” he said
Naidoo said the city regretted that the mall development could not take place.
Minority Front councillor Patrick Pillay said his party was happy that the Early Morning Market would not be moved.
“The rescinding of the decision is good,” he said.
According to a report tabled before the committee yesterday, extensive discussions had taken place with the parties concerned to resolve the issues, without success and, as a result, the timeframes contemplated in the council resolution of April 2009, had not been met.
DA caucus leader Tex Collins said he “could live” with the decision to rescind the decision to build a mall in Warwick Triangle.
Early Morning Market Association chairman Harry Ramlal said the market was 100 years old and demolishing it would be unacceptable.
“The decision to put the development aside is heart warming. The market needs upgrading and maintenance, but demolishing it is unacceptable,” he said.