BONGANI MTHETHWA

DURBAN is rejuvenating its coastline in a bid to retain its status as one of the country’s premier holiday destinations.

The massive upgrade, from Umhlanga on the North Coast to Umgababa on the South Coast, aims to inject new life along the coastline.

The face-lift includes a revamp of the Umhlanga Rocks promenade, the Durban beach front, and the Amanzimtoti, Umkomaas, Warner and Umgababa beaches.

Durban’s famous Golden Mile — a stretch lined with some of the city’s top hotels — is undergoing a R250-million overhaul.

Apart from impressing international visitors during the Soccer World Cup, city authorities are also keen to entice families back to the beach front, which was last year voted as one of 10 top family beach resorts in the world by international travel guide Lonely Planet.

Dr Ajiv Maharaj, acting deputy head of eThekwini municipality’s economic development unit, said Durban had a varied coastline that catered for all tourists.

“Durban has been a number one tourist destination for some time. It has a good coastline and is good value for money,” he said.

The city, he said, was putting up excellent facilities, clean swimming pools and access roads to the beaches to lure holidaymakers and families back to the beach front.

Phillip Sithole, the head of Durban Tourism, said they expected the number of local and foreign tourists to increase once the upgrade of the coastline had been completed.

Umhlanga Tourism’s Peter Rose said the new promenade had been entirely re-built at a cost of R55-million, after it was severely damaged by heavy storms two years ago.

“We have a brand new promenade that rivals anything to be found anywhere in the world and is certainly better than any other beach-front promenade anywhere in South Africa,” he said.

The head of eThekwini municipality’s strategic projects unit and 2010 programme, Julie May Ellingson, told the Sunday Times previously that the investment the city was making in extending the promenade, developing four key nodes, which included new restaurants, change rooms and upgraded ablutions, a new club house and an extension of the skate park, “will substantially improve our beach product offering”.

Source: Sunday Times