Durban had ‘a bumper festive season’ where tourists spent an estimated R1.2Billion offset against the R500 million spent by the city improving infrastructure. Sincebefore the 2010 world cup Durban has been as industrious as an ant farm digging things up here, laying paths down there. New and renovated concourses.A flurry of new restaurants.Sprucing up the informal trading areas.Laying on the recreational facilities.

It seems like yesterday that the Durban streets were awash with green fingered types taking a break from the, what turned out to be, highly successful Cop17 conference – well, from an organisational point of view anyway, ahem.

But just when residents thought it was safe, the City eThekwini plans to host a R31million Top Gear festival in June.  It materialised early this year that the ANC-run municipality and the provincial government had signed a 3 year contract for the festival that is to arrive in Durban in June, with municipality and the provincial government expected to carry the financial burden. Oops Durbs is beginning to look like seriously high maintenance.

This comes in the wake of Auditor-General Terence Nombembe’s report for 2010-11, which showed that 364 tenders worth R126m were illegally awarded. Democratic Alliance councillor Tex Collins said the provincial government had signed the Top Gear contract without consulting the municipality. Apparently the event does not submit to the goals of eThekwini’s  integrated development plan. Alas there is simply no provision for the festival in the city’s budget.

Opposition parties are hardly shouting yippee at the thought of fast cars and all mannerof techno-wizardry gracing the Durban shore. The DA’s Ronnie Veeran said councillors battled to find money for infrastructure in their wards, and asked how the municipality had found the funding for the event so readily. He also said that the tickets of R250-R500 were too expensive for the average Durbanite. The minority front suggested building a permanent race track.

At the end of the day ANC councillors played the familiar tune that the Top Gear festival was similar to the 2010 Soccer World cup or Cop 17 in that such events brought extraordinary revenue to the city, hotel industry and allied tourism industry. The event is expected to generate an estimated income of R35 000 000 in the City’s hospitality industry. R26 000 000 will be spent on local suppliers and legacy programme. How those figures are arrived at is little mysterious though.

Apparently the deal was struck in December last year and the city is bound by the contract – so all the debate is academic. It’s a bit like dad spending all the grocery money on booze – you might as well enjoy the party.

On a more constructive note though Durban’s place in the sun is keeping it in the public eye for a very green reason.Pioneering the way for cleaner energy in South Africa, three partners have come together in a cutting-edge energy-saving pilot project. Durban is the city chosen in this project aimed at harnessing  the power of solar energy.

It’s called The Lincoln on Lake Rooftop Solar Project. The three main players are: Growthpoint, South Africa’s largest JSE listed property company; Hudu, a pioneer in the world of Solar Power and the world’s largest solar panel manufacturers Suntech Power.  Eskom naturally has a huge role to play to.

Growthpoint‘s Lincoln on lake on Umhlanga Ridge provided the location whilst Suntech and Hudu provided the solar panels and the installation. Eskom shared in the costs. The project is the largest photovoltaic installation to an office building in the province and represents a potential saving of 44kWs, which equates to some 87,000kWhs per annum.

The carbon saving is estimated at being around 89 610kg CO2 annually or 240 trees saved a year. “The latest innovations in the solar energy sector provide increased applications and effectiveness, as well as financial viability,” I-NetBridge quoted  Martin Viljoen, Managing Director of Hudu. “We are excited to be part of this resourceful project and to be a participant in the solar energy revolution that that is taking hold in SA.”

The pilot project has serious potential for application in buildings across South Africa. Durban has another reason to say “look at me.”