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Friday30 January 2009

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Durban Diary Page6

CITY GIVESSTORM VICTIMSA HELPING HANDNews Page 6 News Page 3

METROMADIBA: GREATPORTRAITS ANDOTHER ART

LOGIE SCOOPSTWO TOPAWARDS

THEMBA KHUMALO

DURBAN residents andvisitors have been praised forcooperating with the auth-orities to ensure an almostincident-free festive season.

This emerged from a recentFestive Season ManagementCommittee (Fesmac) debrief-ing on the season.

Committee Chairman,Christo Swart, the City’sDeputy Head of Parks,Leisure and Cemeteries, saidmore than 516 000 peoplevisited Durban beaches

during the holidays, despitethe economic downturn.

“While there were manyrescues, there were only twodrowning and both happ-ened in unprotected areas.”

Swart applauded holiday-makers’ cooperation. “Wecould not have done itwithout them. It was busy,but their cooperation helpedto make this period flowsmoothly and everythingwent according to plan.”

Beach Manager and Fesmacmember Farouk Omarjeesaid, “We improve every year,

and this is due to all stake-holders who work tirelessly toensure we have an incident-free festive season.

He said good coordinationand planning had helpedreduce the number of child-ren who had becomeseparated from their familieson the beaches.

“A record number of arm-bands were issued withnames and details of parentsor family. This ensured thatchildren were collected.”

Omarjee said a zero tol-erance approach by the

Metro Police and SAPS hadmade a huge difference.

“Visible policing and acrack-down on people drink-ing alcohol and misbehavingat beaches resulted in just ahandful of incidents beingreported.

‘Dividends’“The campaigns have been

running over the years andare starting to pay dividends.People are now aware of whatand what not to do atbeaches.”

Metro Police staged 21roadblocks over the season,and made 161 arrests. Some157 drunk drivers werearrested and 20 vehicles werefound to be unroadworthy.

The Durban Solid WasteEducation Bus was stationedon the Lower Marine Paradenear the paddling pools overthe holidays, with staff amus-ing children with an enter-taining anti-litter message.Visitors were encouraged touse the bins.

Cleansing officer at SouthBeach, Nceba Klass, said:

“Cleaning teams worked tilllate each day to ensure thebeaches were clean and wellmaintained at all times”.

A staggering 101 055 refuseplastic bags were distributedand 596 490 tons of refusecollected, she said.

Swart urged people tocontinue helping the Fesmacteam.

“We get better every year.and this is largely due to thefeedback we get and to theeffort of everyone involvedwith Fesmac.”

khumalotk@durban.gov.za

Holiday season hailed as a success

METRO REPORTER

WITH therecent com-pletion ofthe soaringarch at the

Moses Mabhida Stadium,Durban’s preparations for the2010 World Cup entered anexciting new phase.

Some 300 000 people areexpected to visit the cityduring the event, which kicksoff next June, and theeThekwini Municipality is inthe process of undertakingintense city maintenanceand rejuvenation along keyroutes and within the city.

At the centre of thepreparations is the King’sPark Sports Precinct, with thearea around the stadiumbeing transformed into avibrant, urban environmentfor residents and tourists.

A pedestrian walkway willlink Masabalala Yengwa(NMR) Avenue and the beachwhile a People’s Park on thesouthern side of the stadiumwill offer a landscaped out-door area with sports fields,lush lawns, trees and spacesfor children to play as well asa relaxed restaurant facility.

Heroes Walk, in People’s

Park, will be a beautifulwalkway that will provideeasy access to the stadiumfrom the city centre, alongwith a 10m wide circulartrack for walking, jogging orcycling.

And for people who want tomeet friends and socialise,Imbizo Place will be a multi-functional public meetingspace, surrounded by anamphitheatre, retail, leisureand entertainment outlets.

Julie-May Ellingson, head ofDurban’s Strategic ProjectsUnit, said locals and visitors tothe city would soon enjoy asafe public transportationsystem, which would improveaccess to the stadium andrecreational areas in andaround Durban.

“To improve accessibilityand mobility in and aroundthe city centre, and ensuresports fans travel easily andsafely, transportation iscritical to the efficient hostingof a global event like theWorld Cup.

“Our focus is on upgradingand improving facilities,”Ellingson said.

Public transport lanes havealready been created on theN3 and construction of laneson the Nkosi Albert Luthuli

Freeway (M4) will beginshortly, relieving congestionand improving traffic flow.

The new Inner City BusSystem is in its trial phase andis proving to be a success.This will be extended in thenext 18 months.

Warwick Junction is beingrevamped and reconfiguredinto a safer, more efficienttransport and shopping pre-cinct with improved access.

Park-and-ride and park-and-walk facilities will letvisitors park their cars and getto the stadium without traffic

congestion and parkingproblems.

A public transport infor-mation call centre will helpcommuters and tourists,providing them with traveland traffic information.

Road network CCTV moni-toring will link security andtraffic incidents to electronicinformation boards that relayinformation to drivers.

A solar-powered LED trafficlight programme, capable ofoperating without electricityfrom the national grid, isbeing developed.

“The benefits of the WorldCup will reverberate throughthe city long after the lastwhistle has been blown,” saidEllingson.

“Durban will be positionedas the sports and eventscapital of Africa and a world-class city with the infra-structure and capabilities ofhosting international events.”

This will bring economicbenefits, including jobcreation, training and skillsdevelopment, and will alsoattract investment, saidEllingson.

ARTISTIC Durbanites responded enthusiastically toa call from the Municipalityto design a host city poster forthe 2010 World Cup.

More than 150 entries werereceived for the host citydesign competition andjudged by a panel from thelocal arts community andeThekwini Municipality.

Winner, Lindy Pelzl, agraphic design student fromthe Durban University ofTechnology won R20 000 andthe opportunity to see herwork on display in the city.

“I am so proud of Durbanand, hopefully, my poster willhelp to bring a lot of peopleto the city to experience ourwarmth and friendliness andwitness some exciting 2010soccer moments at ourimpressive Moses MabhidaStadium,” she said.

Mayor Obed Mlaba said,“We had a great response tothe competition and aredelighted that Durban’sartistic talent and passion forthe city was captured by themany entries we received.” –Metro Reporter

2010: it’scomingtogether

Posterperfect

WINNER: Durban’s poster

REACH FOR THE SKY: As this artist’s impression shows, the newly-completed arch(inset) will help support the roof of the Moses Mabhida Stadium