Moreland Views - Bridge City

BRIDGE City is set to be the catalyst for economic growth in the previously-disadvantaged areas of Inanda, Ntuzuma, KwaMashu and Phoenix as the Umhlanga New Town Centre was the catalyst for development north of Durban.

A Presidential Lead project, Bridge City is one of the urban knots being tied in unison with the eThekwini Municipality that will forge a new town centre for residents of the surrounding areas after decades of inactivity.

Moreland's industrial project manager Brian Ive says the development is being undertaken as a public private joint venture partnership with the eThekwini municipality, building on the success of the RiverHorse Valley industrial park and substantial interest has already been expressed by investors, particularly the banking sector.

The new precinct plans include a substantial regional mixed use Town Centre covering 43ha of shopping, entertainment, civic buildings, a hospital, magistrates' courts, mixed commercial, office and residential buildings, petrol filling stations and an inter-modal transport facility.

Proposals are also on the cards for the railway line to be extended into the New Town Centre as South Africa gears up for the 2010 World Cup Soccer.

Here, commuters will transfer between cars, buses, taxis and rail.

Road access will be via the existing "Besters" interchange on Main Road 93, a new off-ramp from the same road (and in future a half-diamond interchange) and an extension of Bhejane Road from KwaMashu into Bridge City.

Brian says development standards will be along similar lines as developments in the Umhlanga Ridge New Town Centre, meaning location is not an excuse for diminished quality.

An existing 16,5ha of industrial land to the east of the New Town Centre will likely be released for the appropriately synergistic use as a business park.

Brian says within the development will be a variety of regional state and municipal facilities, including a provincial hospital, and Moreland is concluding basic terms for a magistrate's court and other ancillary courts, meaning offices for the legal and medical fraternity are likely to follow suit.

The site was previously zoned industrial but Brian says the market has not acknowledged this opportunity. Sites remained unsold, indicating a New Town Centre with mixed use and a host of commercial, retail and residential opportunities offered a more viable solution.

The site is currently appropriately zoned for mixed use as "Special Zone 44". The form of development is encouraged to be mixed use retail, commercial and offices on the lower two to three storeys while developments that include a residential component may develop up to between four and eight storeys high.

Brian says densification is "very desirable" for any development of this nature, as it allows for economies of scale. This extends across the spectrum from bulk services to development costs and infrastructure utilisation.

Residential development is expected to be in the affordable range starting at R200 000 per unit.

"Densification is the means with which poorer members of society can be integrated into the economic fabric of society. Essentially, urban design controls will improve the use of infrastructure to minimise costs and maximise economies," Moreland MD Gordon Hibbert says.

Opportunities include sites or even whole city blocks being developed with retail, commercial, legal and medical offices and residential developments in this previously-disadvantaged area.

"People should work and play in the same area, interacting with the community," Hibbert says.

This will be encouraged by extens, roadside parking, tree-lined boulevards and town centre roads, a central park and public meeting places.

Landscaping and security are seen as essential components of the New Town Centre.