Download Jacquie Subban – Geographic Information and Policy Office (GIPO)

Summary with relevant eThekwini Municipal Officials
Contents
John Parkin – Durban Solid Waste .......................................................................................................... 2
Ken Breetzke – Engineering .................................................................................................................... 4
Sandile Mapumulo – Head of Durban Electricity .................................................................................... 6
Neil MacLeod – Head of Water and Sanitation ...................................................................................... 8
Jacquie Subban – Geographic Information and Policy Office (GIPO)..................................................... 9
Derek Morgan – Energy Office .............................................................................................................. 11
Vincent Ngubane and Billy Keeves - Disaster Management ................................................................. 14
Andrew Mather - Coastal Policy........................................................................................................... 17
Logan Moodley, Robin Chetty, Manoj Rampersad – eThekwini Transport Authority .......................... 19
Themba Msomi – Economic Development Unit ................................................................................... 22
Helene Epstein and Kajal Singh – Framework Planning Branch ........................................................... 24
Faizal Seedat and Mark Byerley – Housing ........................................................................................... 27
1
JOHN PARKIN – DURBAN SOLID WASTE
Background to department and interactions
 The department is made up of 3 departments / interactions:
 Refuse collection
 Street sweeping
 New developments and research
 Refuse transfers
 The departments main interactions with other departments are parks, roads and health.
However there are areas of disconnect between departments.
Education
 The department does run education campaigns educating mainly schools about waste
management and recycling.
 Highlighted there are separate education departments for different municipal offices and
suggested co-ordinating these to become more effective.
 Schools visit the landfill site once a week (currently very busy)
 In terms of climate change education, for employees, this is not happening at the moment
Recycling
 Process has started recycling only paper and plastic, people are given orange bags to put their
paper and plastic
 Currently very little is being recycled, approximately 1011t/month
 Challenges:
 Many people abuse the process and use the bags for other waste.
 The population do not care about recycling
 Glass is not currently being recycled due to the transportation costs of getting the glass to
the recyclers
 Need to look at is from all angles – energy usage in transportation, water consumption of
rinsing tins and other recyclable materials
 Does not think incentives would work to encourage people to dispose of waste
Waste to Energy through incineration and biological treatment initiatives
 Looking at taking the waste and burning it to produce energy
 Looking at mechanical / biological reduction, by using a digester to take the methane out
upfront, which is different to the landfill gas to electricity project. What is left can be used to
retain moisture in the soil.
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Electric vehicles
 Currently have one electric vehicle (Japanese) which is used for sweeping. There is a great
decrease in fuel consumption, however the department is finding it difficult to find someone to
address their questions about the battery pack.
Illegal dumping
 Major challenge for this sector, the enforcement fines are too low and as a result people prefer
to take the risk and dump waste.
Waste Minimisation Groups
 Pockets of excellence. In most cases it requires an individual driver to drive successful initiatives.
Research
 Currently, they fund students at UKZN to do research for them, for example they would fund an
MSc for a student and use the report.
 The internet to see what is being done around the world.
Landfill to gas (CDM Project)
 Currently emission reduction about 15 – 20 000tCO2e per month
 However felt that the CDM route is very difficult, VER’s would be a preferable route, however
the process there is also very long.
Key points to Consider:
 The main challenge in this sector is getting people to commit to disposing of waste in a correct
manor.
 Education might be the main reason for apathy amongst society with regard to waste disposal
 Law enforcement is an issue and the fines are too low, with regard to people who dump waste
 Currently workers are not educated about climate change and its links to waste
 The recycling process has just begun and can be improved
 Needs a leader to champion a change
 Traction for innovation in the sector
3
KEN BREETZKE – ENGINEERING
What does he do?
 Involved in the co-ordination of infrastructure planning, which is divided into Engineering and
social facility infrastructure
Social facility infrastructure
 Consists of community halls, libraries, sports and recreation, primary health etc.
 Key challenge: Currently there are huge backlogs and limited funding and resources. Social
facility plans require about R3.5 billion, of which current allocation is only R80 million.
 Primary health care has a 44% backlog
 Therefore looking at spaces where less resources can be used more efficiently
 Targeting key sectors:
 Primary health care
 Education: schools and libraries
 Fire / security – however there are difficulties in accessing information from the police
sector.
 How efficient is the provision:
 Building standards and sharing of resources for e.g. building a playground next to a library
 Clustering of facilities e.g. vertical stacking and higher densities, which would have benefits
for public transport.
 Housing policy is the cause for urban sprawl, changing towards double storeys.
 Subsidies are limited
 Main issues are embedded in the performance management plans, which need to be met versus
the provision of social facilities
Current mixed land use initiative in Durban – Cornubia
 In Umhlanga, trying to create a sustainable neighbourhood, with mixed land use, high densities,
pedestrian walkways. See http://www.cornubia.co.za/ for more information.
Engineering
 Consists of water and sanitation, electricity, solid waste, roads, etc.
 Demand management and the phasing of the Spatial Development Plans (SDPs)
 Currently focusing on getting common databases, where all departments would work from
 No ground-truthing behind the SDP, for example, like whether it can be sustained.
 Municipal departments need to act together in the SDPs so that it is inclusive
 Challenge: Difficulties with the planning department – planners are not giving engineers clear
plans, therefore engineers are doing their own plans
 Need for a leader to drive things - capacity mismatch between planning and engineering.
 Challenge: the need to balance competing demands and resources, before thinking about a low
carbon Durban
 Overall trying to maintain a sustainable approach... how do we change our urban form, how do
we provide services and reduce water loss?
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 Suggestion: need to come up with recommendations that fit into the current plans and take into
account the limited resources in the sector. For example a City Barometer which compares
budget vs GHG emissions
Transport – 2002
 Initial plan to restructure the public transport system – providing a North – South rail and a loop
system to Pinetown, with feeder systems and land use to support this. This never happened
 Main reason : the Taxi industry is too strong
 Need to put the public transport system in place before the development to ensure that it is not
competing with the taxi industry.
Adaptation
 Looking at it from some aspects, such as storm water drainage, however resources are limited to
fully incorporate it.
Options for looking at a low carbon area
 Looking at industrial areas can provide opportunities
 There is greater chance for uptake in high income areas
 Constraints in sourcing energy efficient products and sustainable materials
 Challenge with pilot projects is the ability to scale up
Key points to consider:
 People in infrastructure do not think about carbon emissions, but focus more on advantages
gains
 Look for a couple of big areas, where a big impact can be made
 To achieve a low carbon Durban, would require more resources.
 Need to make recommendations that would benefit them in terms of gains, money saving,
employment – need someone from an engineering background to approach the engineers.
 In terms of public transport, the main challenge is working with the taxi industry
 A key person/department for possible planning interventions
5
SANDILE MAPUMULO – HEAD OF DURBAN ELECTRICITY
Background to the department and their interactions with the Energy Office
 They buy electricity from Eskom (predominantly) and distribute it to customers.
 The department is geared towards distribution not generation.
 Good relationship with the Energy Office – plan to second engineers to the office
 Feels that the energy office should not be in Treasury but rather be within their department
 Generally the level of climate change awareness in the department is good.
Existing and planned climate change initiatives
 Purchases approximately 30 000 MWh from Bisasar Road
 The department has a 2kW wind turbine on their roof
 Working on Solar water heating initiatives
 Expects renewable energy sources to increase – REFIT guidelines BUT believes that the base load
cannot be provided by renewable, they can only be used to supplement the baseload
 Need to follow the path that will give you cost advantages
 Need to implement large scale solar as a country, as it is not sufficient to go with large scale
renewable in the city
Independent power producers
 It is difficult to buy power from them, as NERSA’s regulations are that high costs of electricity
may not passed on to consumers
 Therefore the cost electricity from IPPs has to be at the same level as Eskom
 Selling green power to consumers at a higher cost, would require the creation of a green tariff.
 There is the option of selling carbon tax certificates instead
Energy Efficiency
 Responsibility lies within the energy office
 Education campaigns
 Energy efficiency building projects
 Retrofitting lamps
Energy conservation scheme
 Basically it is the requirement to reduce electricity consumption by 10% from the 2007/08 year,
factoring in growth.
 Strict enforcement has been stopped by local government as the hurts the economy, however
industry needs to reduce consumption and to be more environmentally friendly.
 Incentives – cutting people’s electricity bill by 10% should be enough of an incentive
 In terms of charging industry less for electricity – the infrastructure to provide electricity to
individual households is more costly, whilst infrastructural costs to industry is less
 Need to look at individual industrial energy wastage before determining further energy
reduction.
 Currently the city is achieving about a 4% reduction due to the energy conservation scheme
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Distribution losses
 Made up for theft and technical losses
 Generally about 6-10% losses are acceptable, currently Durban’s loss is around 6%.
 Is very significant in terms of municipal energy.
Household electrification
 1992 – 192 000 houses did not have electricity access
 2000 – under 200 000 households do not have electricity access, due to growth
 Between 95 – 96% of households are electrified
 Electrification takes place at a rate of 13 000 households per annum
 The backlog is in the rural sparsely populated areas of Durban and in informal settlements
Mini grids
 Is possible, but needs to be in an areas where people can afford the higher costs
 Will require a mix of renewable energy.
Key points:
 The department’s focus is more on electricity distribution rather than generation
 Acknowledges the need for the energy office to be within the electricity department
 Does not appear to be very susceptible to innovation
 However will consider opportunities that would give the department cost advantages
7
NEIL MACLEOD – HEAD OF WATER AND SANITATION
Background to the department and interactions with other departments
 Buys treated water from Umgeni Water: buys 96% and treats 4%, then stores and distributes the
water
 Treats sewerage
 Gains are revenue from selling water and treating sewerage – runs like a business
 Housing is a major player in terms of interaction, also works closely with Ken (Engineering),
however the department engages with most major departments.
Climate change initiatives:
 The department does not focus on climate change per se, but many business opportunities it is
focusing on has climate change spin offs.
 The level of awareness of climate change in the department is high.
 Sea-level rise will impact on the Central Works therefore it needs to be pulled back
Hydro power
 Western Aqueduct - 80 km pipeline running from Pietermaritzburg – plans to insert 2x5 MW
turbines to provide a total of 10MW electricity.
 Northern pipeline – Inchanga – mini hydro
 About 300 reservoirs are candidates for electricity generation with mini turbines
 Further research into areas where turbines can be put in
 Would meet about 50% of the 10% electricity reduction target
 Would only need to synchronise the electricity generated with the grid
Sanitation
 Currently researching the extraction of phosphorous (which is expected to peak in about 30
years and is essential for agriculture) from urine. The city has 90 000 urine diverting toilets to
achieve this.
 Alternatively the city is looking at capturing gas (methane) from the sewerage works and using it
to generate electricity
 Also looking at digesters that can handle hazardous waste, which would be an income source for
the department, as currently hazardous waste is sent to Johannesburg for disposal at high costs
 Currently the sludge is given to farmers in Durban north, transport of the sludge is free to the
farmers.
 Potential to locate a wetland at the end of () ponds, which will remove most of the nutrients in
the water before disposing of it.
 Looking at adding algae to the ponds and generating bio-fuels from it, but the main difficulty is
getting the right algae and disposing it.
Main points:
 The department is willing to consider options that will save or earn them money.
 The department is very innovative and will be susceptible to new ideas.
8
JACQUIE SUBBAN – GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION AND POLICY OFFICE (GIPO)
Background to the office
 The office does the strategising for the city
 GIPO is in charge of publishing the Integrated Development Plan (IDP)
 The IDP is not done by consultants, which allows for middle and upper management to
have ownership of it
 The planning is divided into 5 year cycles to reach the objectives
 Within these five years, annual reviews take place for continuous strategic refinement of
the process
Process
 Forums take place to discuss budgeting, planning, transport etc
 Steering committees and forums provide input to the IDP
 Consultation with sectors, NGOs, businesses, community and faith based organisations
takes place
 The city manager has the final say and the council signs off the IDP
 The IDP is monitored qualitatively
 The office also handles the city’s Spatial Development Framework and its long term plan,
however the long term plan is viewed as not being tangible
 These documents are high level statements, which are short, easy readable documents
 Further detail and planning happens at a lower level, such as sector plans
Climate change issues
 Sector plans have become much more infused with climate change issues and this will reflect on
the overall IDP
 The huge impacts of the coastal storm, had an impact on what people think about climate
change
 The issues people bring up can be extracted back to climate change
 The new iteration of the IDP will include climate change more
 People are learning new approaches to things, for example a soft approach rather than hard
approaches
 Policy level things needs to be displayed on the ground to show people how we can make a
difference.
 Need to focus on practical aspects within all departments such as:
o Food security issues – bring food sources closer
o Transport – make non-motorised transport viable
o Parks department – looking at growing and harvesting vegetables
Proactive departments
 Treasury – the city treasurer co-ordinates climate change initiative – the energy office lie in
treasury
 Procurement and infrastructure (Electricity, water, roads, DSW, Housing) – these departments
impact on the ground
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 National government – they provide the city with legislation, which the city must comply with,
Durban is good at complying with national legislation.
 Transport:
o Disappointing, it is not being emphasised enough
o Can do a lot more about public transport
o People must be encouraged to use public transport, which would require incentive
 Departments do not want to take risks
o The performance management system makes people afraid to take risks and takes the
innovation out of the system
 Need to look at ‘parts of the beast’, which would be more tangible and achievable
 Policy is not an issue, it is the implementation which is key
 Need to get faith based organisations and community clubs involved, to influence communities
Cross-sectoral approaches
 The first approach is to incorporate climate change issues within the sector
 Second approach is to set overall goals and the sector to which a goal applies to will be
responsible for achieving that goal
 Third approach a steering committee will look at projects that needs to be dealt with in a crosscutting way
 Need to have conversations with sectors to ensure that the approach is tangible
10
DEREK MORGAN – ENERGY OFFICE
Background to the Energy Office
 The energy office was established 2 years ago in response to the national electricity crisis
 The office lies within Treasury
 The mandate of the office was to implement the eThekwini Energy Strategy which includes
residential, transport, industrial and commercial, municipal and cross-cutting strategies.
 However the office is not an implementing office, the office assists other municipal offices in
implementing energy projects
 Structure of the office: (6 people in total)
o EO Manager
o 2 technical people
o Legal person – which also consists of the establishment of the Carbon Desk, whose core
mandate would be mitigation
o Marketing
o Intern
 The office works in conjunction with other departments to design renewable energy projects
 VISION – for the city to become the Sustainable Energy Industrial Hub in the SADC region
 DIPA currently plays a supporting role to the energy office
 The office also runs climate change mitigation projects
 Transport is currently not really being looked at
Current or planned projects
 Residential SWH and low cost SWH project – payback is through the electricity bill
o Plans to disseminate 100 000 solar water geysers at a cost of R1.5 billion
o This however, requires high capital costs and the availability of capital is low
 Lighting projects – Street, traffic and building lights
 Building energy efficiency – Range of EE lights, heaters
 Carbon desk – to help business determine and reduce their GHG emissions
 Wind mapping exercise – identify areas, where wind power would be feasible – difficult to find
the skills to do this
 Sustainable Energy Forum – to discuss what the city and university is doing in terms of
Renewable Energy – mainly the Mechanical Engineering Department
o Focuses on developing skills, course materials etc.
The Industrial Development Strategy has been published by the Economic Development Unit in the
city, which focuses on a Green Economy for the city.
REFIT
 The problem with rolling out renewable is that REFIT is not working.
 The cost viability of purchasing from Eskom vs renewable – the tariffs of renewables are higher
 Other cities, like Port Elizabeth, the wind energy is purchased at a higher rate by companies as
their greening initiative
 Need to have a mechanism in place to allow for refit to start working
11
 In Durban, besides the Landfill Gas to Electricity project, the Maidstone Mill generates electricity
from bagasse.
Interactions
 Original staff for the energy office was from the Electricity Department
 Communication between energy and electricity is not great for example the Energy Office has
R69 million for lighting and the Electricity Department did not know about it.
 Also communication problems with architecture
 The EO is working with GIPO on the green IT project
 Working with transport at looking at e-bikes (electric bikes)
o Small motor and a bicycle component
o Intermediate between private and public transport
o Investigating whether it is applicable in Durban
o Support from the Chinese and UNIDO
o Need to determine if traffic calming interventions would be required
Industrial mitigation
 The Durban Industrial Climate Change Partnership (DICCP) has been engaging with industry,
particularly the chemical, automotive and maritime sectors and clusters to assist them with GHG
reporting and developing plans for reducing emissions
 NBI – carbon disclosure project, targets JSE companies
 Local GHG reporting is being initiative mainly for small and medium industries that are not part
of the JSE Carbon Disclosure Project
 The EO do energy audits for industries for free, provide industry with the necessary tools
 Industrial Energy Efficiency programme - Implementation of the ISO 51, National Cleaner
Production
 Toyota is the most advanced company in terms of energy efficiency – follows international best
practice
 Big firms are already implementing low carbon initiatives.
Challenges
 Renewable – need a local mechanism to address REFIT for example local municipalities should
propose to national government to manage it.
 Sector, knowledge and skills shortages for example in wind power
 Resources – the EO is too small, things need to happen now, can’t wait a year or two to justify an
expansion
o At the moment the EO can’t do everything it would like to do in terms of mitigation and
projects are prioritised – city management passions
 Access to capital
 National legislation – no GHG reporting guidelines, no incentives to industry to reduce emissions
 Institutional uncertainty, miscommunication
 Ownership of projects, some do not feel that they own the projects
Interventions
 Marketing and Awareness is currently haphazard and needs a proper marketing plan
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 Schools – flyers are handed out and some theatre
 Focus in the future on engaging with industry
 The EO can intervene in terms of implementing mitigation measures, but they are limited by the
Municipal Finance Act.
13
VINCENT NGUBANE AND BILLY KEEVES - DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Background and structure of the department /unit
 The Department’s main focus is on disaster recovery, planning, emergency planning. They
also liaise with fire services but it’s not part and parcel of the unit
 Disaster Management’s (DM) main function is facilitation and coordination to ensure that
the silos work together to facilitate a practical way forward for a particular risk
 From a legislative perspective: It stems from the Disaster Management Act, 2002, which is
noted to be one of the best Disaster Management Frameworks, very thorough and detailed
based on four key performance areas (KPAs) and 3 enablers
 KPAs:
o Integrated institutional capacity for disaster risk management
o Disaster risk assessment
o Disaster risk reduction
o Response and recovery
 Enablers:
o Information management and communication
o Education, training, public awareness and research
o Funding arrangements for disaster risk management
 The framework was a paradigm shift from the old one which was essentially response to a
disaster after it had occurred, 90% now is prevention and mitigation based.
 There are a total of 6 people in the department
Challenges and Obstacles
 Restructuring– reorganising the unit and also addressing where it fits in the hierarchy
 Currently they do not have the necessary capacity and skills required
 The paradigm shift has occurred on paper but it has not been implemented, disaster
management is still viewed as responding to mitigation
 Municipal agencies do things in isolation (silos)
 No formal leadership within the organisation
 Finance – organisation
 Political will – need to get the political structures on board
Work that they do?
 The department has not really gone down the road of being proactive as yet
 But for example, they provide input into Environmental Impact Assessments, recognising the
relationship between development and disaster, and allow development to bring the
opportunity to mitigate
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 Hazardous industries are required to declare their potential impacts and accidents. Risk
assessments taken into consideration for prevention and mitigation.
 Mainly do welfare work, for example distribute blankets etc after a flood.
Local Framework for DRM
 Highlights the key performance areas based on the national framework, focusing more on
local DRM
 Guides all the work that the DRM group does – framework, plan, policy document ,
compliance, the city still has to produce an overall risk assessment
 Identified 13 significant hazards and risks:
o
Oil spills, Air crashes, Etc
 The Framework is generic: it does not highlight any specific hazards and risks and climate
change is not addressed
 In terms of the DM act, the department needs to produce a plan and a disaster assessment
report to the provincial forum, which has to link with the national plan – capacity is the issue
The department’s awareness of climate change risk management:
 Climate change awareness is high in the department – because of the interface with the
environmental group
 Water security is a major issue
 Food security
 Health issues
 Durban has either too much or too little water
 More intense rain over the shorter period will impact on the informal settlements – highly
vulnerable – faced with communities that are more and more vulnerable
 Require a multi-disciplinary response to coastal erosion for example – implications etc , need
to understand risks and implications of certain choices of mitigation measures – hard versus
soft versus retreat ,
Disaster Management Advisory Committee
 At present there are no formal structures in place that allow them to interact with other
departments
 Therefore there are plans to have a disaster management advisory committee: includes
other departments, academics, NGOs, etc. – timeframe to have it running by the end of
November 2010
 Difficulties :
o Local framework outlines the key performance indicators and measurements, but
there needs to be implementation of this, which is problematic
o
There needs to be interdepartmental tasks groups that deal with hazards, risks etc
with the right expertise to ensure that these groups work ,
15
o
A vast majority of departments don’t recognise the role of DM – significant
Communication and DM
 At the moment there is no public awareness to educate the people on how to respond to
disasters as education of hazards and risks should start at schools. This will be launched only
when it can be sustained
 Early warning system:
o
o
o
o
The department has a good relationship with SA weather service, which has an early
weather warning system, which informs them.
Local radio and national TV will warn the public
Disaster management will monitor the warning and disseminate it to emergency
services
Bulk sms system to let key people know and the communication centre runs 24/7
 Interactions with Ward Councillors
o
o
The city has 100 wards
The department interacts with the ward councillors and have established a disaster
management committee within each ward
o The committee volunteers to spread the word with regard to risks, disasters, HIV,
trauma
o HOWEVER - the more wards included the slower the progress
o And volunteers are not constant
 1977 – started as civil defence , civil protection – disaster management – about 10 years
 Risk assessment is two years old
16
ANDREW MATHER - COASTAL POLICY
Background to the department
 One person department – Andrew Mather
 Located in the engineering unit – project executive – non line function
 Reports the head of engineering, Adrian Peters, but also to the city manager Mike Sutcliffe
and deputy manager, Derek Naidoo
 Officially, his role is on a strategic level of coastal policy
 Cross cutting role: he is at a senior level so that he can interact with other departments but
he has no positional power
 Does get called to assist with detailed issues related to his background
Policies from a climate change perspective
 A lot of work has been done, but it is not a policy, for example sea-level rise (SLR)
 New developments have to take into account SLR – (had an issue with Mike Sutcliffe about
SLR , who removed some lines)
 Corporate policy to be developed along the 3 scenarios ???
 Draft coastal management strategy – local government strategy equivalent of the national
 Beach shadows policy – siting buildings relative to the shoreline
 SLR – DVD disk mapped out, provides support to the planners, when the Integrated
Assessment Tool is done it will be incorporated into policy
 Developers are made aware of the risks , with the necessary guidelines but there is no policy
or enforcement of a particular line
 Can put short term developments that need to be replaced regularly in the coastal areas
 For policy – need to write a report, which goes to the economic planning committee, exco
and then council, thereafter is it signed as a policy
Interactions
 Interactions are with recreation, coastal storm and catchment management, water and
waste (anyone who puts facilities in coastal areas)
 ICM bill does not permit new development within 100m of the high water mark - once the
new act is implemented, there will just be a single line
 Does interact with Disaster Management, but they are under capacitated – little pre
planning – interact only when the disaster is occurring
 Discussed the possibility of giving them information of potential risks etc
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Obstacles
 Need to get more staff to assist with the ICM Act implementation, once the Act is
implemented, it might open doors for more staff
 Peoples ‘egos’
 There is a lot of awareness, receptive environment
 Municipal adaptation – line departments realised that they actually doing a lot of climate
work without it being termed climate change work, mind shift is taking place
 Policy through has to go through exco
 Capacity and skills gap
 No Budget – have to get money from other departments
Activities
 With the promenade – a sea defence was needed, bags of sand was placed under the
ground
 Offshore dredging was done to keep the beaches broader, however the main concern is the
impacts on environment that the sand is taken from
 Looking at threats for each segment of the coast – currently worked from the harbour
entrance to the Umbogintwini River Mouth
 Shoreline management plan – futuristic shoreline - retreating facilities
 So far 2 car parks, Central Works sewerage treatment and a life guard tower have been
moved
 At the new planned Central Works, they are now thinking of treating the effluent before
pumping it out
 When people see pictures, it has a bigger impact
Interactions with other cities
 Does a lot of work with province (KZN coastal areas outside the eThekwini boundary and
national people, many other cities in South Africa, for example Richards Bay, Durban, Cape
Town, Buffalo City which form part of the C3AIN – (Coastal Cities Climate Adaptation
Informal Network)
 Does a lot of work with Cape Town as they do not have municipal engineers
 Tyndall – Richard Dawson
 Maputo , Reunion
 Bremen , Germany with the River Elbe?
18
LOGAN MOODLEY, ROBIN CHETTY, MANOJ RAMPERSAD – ETHEKWINI TRANSPORT
AUTHORITY
Background to the Department




The department has +/- 100 staff
Currently the department has no Head of Department – however an appointment is eminent
Mandated to plan, implement and regulate transport strategies
The main objectives of the department are to:
o provide a public transport system that is reliable,
o to develop infrastructure,
o to deal with freight,
o to restructure systems which were developed along apartheid years
 The Transport Authority was formed to comply with national legislature – which lies outside
the municipal structure, however this was dissolved and it now lies within the municipality
Climate change knowledge
 Very aware, as they have had many discussions with Debra (Environmental Management)
 Currently 55% of people use public transport and 45% use private transport
 Initial aim is to increase public transport use to 75% over the next 20 years, which would
require large amount of investment in public transport
 The targets have been readjusted so that it remains at a 55:45 split for the next 5 years
Future plans
 Improving the rail system
o Less people are using rail, due to safety and security issues, reliability issues and
insufficient investment
o The highest transport demand in Durban is in the N-S corridor, therefore focused on
this area for rail improvements
o Introduced new train sets – 54 now operate in the area
o More reliable and security was improved at all stations and on the trains
o Rail fares are very low in comparison to other public transport services
o The numbers of users have increased, but the reasons cannot be determined
o Station was built at the Moses Mabida Stadium
o Plans for an extension to the line in Bridge City near KwaMarshu – 2012
o Feeder systems will provide people with access to the rail
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Rail for freight – hasn’t really been looked at – at the moment 70% of freight is
transported by road and 30% by rail
Bus service
o Collapsed about 2 years for about 2 -3 months
o Durban Transport is being run by a new company – however there are still major funding
issues
o Buses are very quiet, which could be a result of people shifting to rail
o Can be used to improved feeder services to the rail system
BRT system
o was planned but it was pulled back at the last minute
o still a potential future plan to supplement the lines, however the earliest it can be
implemented is 2014
Long term strategy
 The strategy is based on sustainable transport principals
 Working on an updated Integrated Transport Strategy – will be available in about 4 weeks time
Non-motorised transport
 Implemented this for 2010 at the stadium precinct and the CBD, with regard to pedestrian
routes which links key areas
 The beachfront promenade – dual (pedestrian, bicycles)
 Cycling circuit – NMR
Interactions with other departments
 Close alignment with other departments
 For example with the developments in the north like the airport and Cornubia involved planning,
engineers, environmental, transport
 There is a formal process in place for a particular initiative – a steering committee is created with
would also consist of provincial people and other sectors that are necessary
Obstacles
 Funding – need +/- R 1 billion every 2 years to sustain an efficient public transport system
 Technology – is not under their control
 Political will – to ensure that the public transportation plans are implemented
 Taxi industry
o A very lucrative business , not much is known about how they operate
o They won’t agree to restructuring, as they view it as a reduction in their profit
o The department regularly interacts with the taxi industry
o They assisted with airport shuttles during the World Cup
o They provide 60% of public transport services
o They also run the Green Bus System
o One of the main concerns is that they operate on the long haul, which is not sustainable
for them and it also competes with the rail service
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 Difficulties getting private vehicle users to use public transport (public attitudes) , need a change
in mind set – education of children in schools
 Access to private vehicles easy to obtain
International Learning
 They have looked at a few case studies from other cities, such as car sharing initiatives BUT
 The major difference between Durban and international cities, is that those cities have an
efficient public transport system in place
 Furthermore safety and security is a major concern in Durban, which is not an issue in many
international countries
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THEMBA MSOMI – ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT UNIT
Background to Economic Development
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The pace of economic development cannot be reduced, but must be increased
But newer technologies must be applied to emit less carbon
Economic development consists of 5 departments:
1. Capital projects: township projects and second CBD
2. Policy, strategy, information and research
3. The Durban Film Office
4. Sector Development
5. Investment Promotion (DIPA)
The largest sectors in the city are:
1. Financial Services – (the largest employer)
2. Logistics
3. Manufacturing
4. Retail and wholesale trade
The government is the second largest employer but does not contribute to the city’s GDP
The department identifies sectors for growth, which is plotted spatially in the SDPs
The engineers assist in this process by guarding against the incorrect zoning of areas e.g
general industry has higher infrastructure costs in comparison to light industry
Their plans are framed by the Economic Development Strategy and the Draft Industrial
Strategy
Targeted growth for the city is to achieve a 5% per annum growth for the next 5 years
Interactions with other departments
 Engineering
 Planning
 Skills development – need to guide institutions and liaising with colleges to ensure that
people are educated, which in the long run would ensure that dirty industries does not
continue
Challenges
 High poverty levels and high unemployment levels
 Most unemployed people are unskilled – which would require promoting manufacturing and
logistics sectors
 Need to educate people to pull them out of poverty – the long term challenge is to get
literacy levels up
 Need to get electricity from another source
 Main issue is that poverty and unemployment needs to be incorporated into the low carbon
recommendations
 Conflict between addressing social challenges or growth
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Manufacturing
 This sector has the highest multiplier effect – impacts on logistics and retail and wholesale
trade
 There are no real restrictions on the type of industries that come into the city
 New manufacturing – Paper mill in Amanzimtoti and BASF (chemical company) in
Umbogintwini
 Dube Tradeport
o Managed by province – CEO Rohan Persad
o Conflict between city and province
Renewable Energy
 There is an opportunity for renewable energy implementation, need to work with the
energy office
 The manufacturing of renewable energy would fall under the manufacturing sector
Transport issues
 The eThekwini Transport Authority deals with transport in the City
 The problem is that the public transport system is privatised, therefore routes that don’t
make money are stopped which limits people’s access
 Buses are now like taxis, functioning only at peak times
Key issues and recommendations
 Need to engage with economists to ensure that the recommendations are accepted
 Need someone who understands the economic risks and can present a sensible argument
about why people need to engage in reducing emissions
 Middle – upper class have the highest energy use
 Attaching environmental and ecological issues in the wrong areas will be rejected
 Main issue is that poverty and unemployment needs to be incorporated into the
recommendations
 Need to educate people to pull them out of poverty – the long term challenge is to get
literacy levels up
 There are no real restrictions on the types of industry that come into the city
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HELENE EPSTEIN AND KAJAL SINGH – FRAMEWORK PLANNING BRANCH
Background to the Department
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The branch is involved in planning for the short, medium and long term
It guides investment
Indicates the future land uses for the city
Develops the Spatial Development Plans (SDPs) for the city
Interactions
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Interacts with various departments depending on the key focus area
Housing, service departments – electricity, water and storm water, the public transport
branch at the eThekwini Transport Authority
Also interacts with the public to invite the community to comment on the SDPs
The Integrated Assessment Tool
 Falls under the Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department
 Aim of the tool is to spatially represent the impact of climate change on the city
 Based on the downscaling of 5 global circulation models
 The SDPs are embedded in the tool
 Challenges in downscaling to such a small level is that it is not technical enough for planners
and it’s too complex for general useClimate change awareness
 The knowledge of climate change within the department is very limited
 The planning unit has not been engaged in the process (the Integrated Assessment Tool),
and feel as if they are not a part of it
 Engage with Coastal Policy (Andrew Mather) with regard to sea level rise
o A process needs to be put in place to mitigate against the risk
o Challenge is getting the relevant people involved
o Planning is will to facilitate this, but the response is beyond the department
Challenges and Obstacles for the Branch
 It is difficult to bring climate change down to the local level
 Lack of education and understanding within the department to incorporate climate change
into the planning
 Political and public resistance – it takes time to change people’s attitudes – need to get
people realising that the risks exist
 Trade-offs – competition between low carbon development vs service delivery and others
 Departments are monitored on the performance of their projects, there is a need to get
climate change mitigation listed as projects
 It is a process to get regulations promulgated
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Public Transport
 Planning is strongly underpinned by public transport
 Compact city development, which is required for lowering the carbon footprint, requires a
good public transport system
 Trying to get freight back on rail to Richards Bay and Gauteng, but currently they are looking
at developing another road
 Challenges with public transport systems
o It needs to be highly subsidised, making it very costly for government
o Reliability, convenience and safety issues
o People use PT because they don’t have other options and not out of choice
o Needs high densities and thresholds to be successful
o The ‘People Mover’ bus system is good, but it only services a small part of the city
 Challenges with promoting rail transport
o The rail process is not managed by the city and is dependent on other departments
o It is considered to be inefficient, as there are too many changes of mode
o Capacity on current lines are limited
o Some tunnels are not big enough
o the costing of true costs if not happening
Economics and industrial growth development
 There is the need to understand the dynamics between economic development, job creation
and climate change
 There is pressure to provide industrial areas, but space is limited
 At the moment the industrial type is not specified, but this is possible
 Don’t want to encourage ‘dirty’ industries
 Challenge – wet industries require large quantities for water , which is not encouraged
because of future water demand risks, however they create more jobs then dry industries.
Dube Tradeport
 It is the antithesis of what is needed for a low carbon city
 It was politically driven and not a municipal decision
 Undermines food security and expands industry
 The municipality was not involved in the planning, however they commented on the EIA
recommendations and engaged with the developer
 It is costing the city in terms of roads, infrastructure, housing
 The city has tried getting rail involved and developing a pipeline to reduce fuel trucks on the
roads.
 Provision has been made for rail with PRASA (Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa ), but
there are currently no plans in the pipeline for developing it
Green Buildings
 Is a practical application which is possible
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Not in the scope of their branch
It needs to be in the national regulations
Incentives would help
However it might be a time consuming process
Compacting the city
 The eThekwini Municipal area is an amalgamation of previous authorities – which had
development in areas which would not normally have been developed
 Apartheid resulted in dense rural areas
 Focusing on compacting the urban core, is not liked as the periphery would be neglected
 A polycentric approach has been adopted – recognising nodes and allowing certain limits to
development
 The aim to is compact development and supplement areas where capacity exists
 The nodes are aligned with the public transport system
 The urban development line /.urban edge –
o is defined through settlement character, topography and future plans for
development
o the edge is unlikely to have services
 Challenge: driven by development in the north which is beyond their control – creating new
developments rather than reinforcing the old
 The city will continue to expand due to need, demand will not decline, but resources are
limited
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)
 The SDP needs to be subjected to a SEA to test if the SDP is environmentally acceptable
 This is in the pipeline, but there are difficulties (technical vs political process)
Key points:
 There is the need to integrate economic development, job creation and climate change
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Need to take the amalgamation of previous authorities into the municipality, nodes and
rural areas, into consideration, when planning around compacting the city – polycentric
approach
Private sector developments are difficult to control, especially in the north
At the moment the industrial types coming into the city is not specified
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FAIZAL SEEDAT AND MARK BYERLEY – HOUSING
Background to the department
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Assess the shack settlements and upgrade or relocate the settlements
Approximately 10% of settlements are relocated: which includes settlement situate in the
flood plain, slopes and dense settlements
Work on Greenfield housing projects, upgrades of low cost housing, hostel upgrades
Funding for projects comes from national government via the province
The department looks at where settlements are and technically assesses if the land is
suitable, conforming to the SDP
The planners don’t want to create urban sprawl, however there are a number of people
already settled there.
Interactions with other departments
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The housing department interacts with engineering, electricity, water and sanitation
Don’t have an understanding with social facilities, such as clinics, education, libraries etc, as
there is not enough budget to adequately provide these facilities, for example there is an
area with 8000 households and no school.
Housing backlogs
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There is a backlog of 234 000 households
The city can provide up to 16 000 households per annum however due to budgetary
constraints, this was reduced to 9 500 per annum in 2009.
However during this period 3 000 storm damaged houses were repaired
6000 households were rectified – houses built before the 2002 standards
Durban is the best in the city in terms of housing provision, however since last year(2009),
this has slowed down due to lack of finances
All key departments comment on the housing plans
Climate change mitigation and adaption considered in housing
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Flood lines are considered
A lot of research was done looking at sustainable materials – wood etc, however none were
successful
Potential to use polystyrene with concrete
CSIR who are doing a study on housing found that the materials used are not wrong, they
are not used to their maximum potential
Looking at improving ventilation and orientation, which is difficult due to the topography of
the area
SWH – a tender is out with the energy office, plan to install between 10 000 – 30 000 SWH
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Low flow taps / dual flush toilets – to reduce water demand
However, RDP houses are not high consumers of water and energy
The department has a budget of R55 000 per household
Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality - SWH Project
 Suppliers would build the low cost households at no cost if they can receive the carbon
credits and the subsidy
Double storey apartments vs single units
 At present the majority of RDP houses are single units
 Double storey is cost effective in terms of services, but more expensive in terms of building
costs – would require a subsidy
Social Housing
 Low rental housing is provided for people earning from R 3 500 – R 7 000
 Housing costs from R 250 000 – R 350 000 per annum
 Provides 15 000 households
 The department can stipulate conditions in the tender document
 Tongaat Hulett and high income developments to include Low Cost housing in the plans but
it is currently not policy
People’s housing process
 Getting people to build their own homes, is a slow process, and it difficult if you need to
meet targets
 The skills development involved is time-consuming
 However, local labour must be used by big contractors for building
Challenges
 Lack of finance
 Shortage of land and high costs of available land
 Constraint on climate change issues as the funding does not allow for it
 Capacity and resources – capacity in the provincial department to process EIAs quicker
 The department is not a local government function therefore they need to get money from
provincial government, which is a lengthy process to issue the funds – need funds to come
directly to them and they need to be given the authority to approve households
 Communities are sometimes difficult to work with
 Dealing with illegally occupied land
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