By Bianca Capazorio

The construction of an international convention centre (ICC) in Port Elizabeth has taken another step forward, with the private sector showing interest in financing the project.

Mandela Bay Development Agency chief executive officer Pierre Voges said expressions of interest had been called for to gauge whether the private sector wanted a proposal to give government-owned land to interested parties in exchange for the money to develop the centre.

Voges said the plan had been devised to source funding for the centre, either by swapping specific pockets of land for the money to develop the centre, or for the development thereof.

This follows after Mayor Nomdumiso Mphasi halted plans to source international funding for the Metro‘s Vision 2020 projects, of which the ICC was one, earlier this year.

Some of the property initially listed for the swop included the land on which the Eastern Province Rugby Union Stadium was currently situated, and some municipal land at Kings Beach.

Voges said international conference centres were rarely funded by the private sector as they were very low income earners and the plan put forward in the expressions of interest document was a first for South Africa.

He said while there had been lots of interest in the idea, a commitment in the form of a request for proposals still needed to be made.

The municipality‘s handling of the ICC, specifically the site of the proposed centre, has drawn a lot of criticism over the years.

Before former mayor Nceba Faku‘s term of office came to an end, he announced the ICC would be built at Pollok Beach, despite a suitability study which ranked Pollok at a dismal 43%. Kings Beach scored 86% and Moreton Bay 57%.

The Herald