Joburg launches inner-city property programme

A program to address urban decline and restore the JohannesburgCBD was launched by the city`s mayor, Amos Masondo, on Wednesday.

"_ The country and show of a CBD is an important barometer todetermine the power of a metropolis to appeal and retain investment,"Masondo said at the launching of the Inner-City Property Scheme (ICPS).

"It is likewise a manifestation of the extent of the procession of mercantilism and overall economic development," he said.

Masondo said the ICPS was a partnership with the private sector andwould replace the Better Buildings Programme (BBP), which had tried toturn "bad" buildings into "better buildings"

He said the BBP had been only somewhat successful because of thelengthy expropriation process, the covering of participants and theneed to provide evicted people with transitional housing.

The ICPS, which was developed by the economical development department,would transfer expropriated properties to an inner-city propertyportfolio. There were 30 buildings which would be refurbished.

Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) participants wouldhold the controlling shares, with each having to invest R5 million.

A board of BBBEE service providers would be created and would be responsible for the greening of the buildings.

"This makes the ICPS one of the most far-reaching BBBEE transactionsyet introduced in South Africa, and decidedly the biggest in theproperty field," said Masondo

He said the city would transfer properties that were dilapidated,abandoned, illegally occupied or hijacked, and vacant pieces of landthrough a developmental lease with an alternative to buy.

Once the buildings were transferred they would be refurbished andbrought in tune with the city`s building code to number them into viableand productive economic assets.

The city would see that the choice to buy was exercised only once the dilapidated property had been refurbished.

Masondo said the city would provide transitional housing for people living in the buildings at the moment.

A Transitional Housing Trust had been formed to do the process.

The bank would acquire buildings that would be revamped and off into transitional housing facilities.

Economic development executive director Jason Ngobeni said thistransitional housing would be provided until people could find newhomes.

He said that as the old buildings were refurbished, rates wouldincrease, which would have them unaffordable to many of these formerresidents, who were RDP housing candidates.