Is the cursed Foreshore Freeway Project on yet again? It may seem so.
Last Sunday, Executive Mayor of the City of Cape Town, Patricia de Lille, said that the City will go back to the drawing board to find another way of making the stagnant project work. “It is disappointing that our first attempt did not work out,” de Lille said in a statement. “Last week the City Manager informed me that the formal Request for Proposals for the future of the Foreshore Freeway Precinct was to be cancelled following consideration of the appeals against the identification of one qualifying bidder.”
As the appeal authority, the City Manager cancelled the RPF based on the appeals he had received, and after taking legal advice.
The Request for Proposals for the development of the Foreshore Freeway Precinct was launched in July 2016, and was a bid to address the ever-growing traffic volumes going in and out of the city centre, as well as the congestion caused as a result of this.
As there are 6 hectares of prime City-owned land available, the City felt that this presented an opportunity to deliver one of the key pillars, which includes building an inclusive city, by ensuring that affordable housing is included in any development proposal.
“Our approach to addressing traffic congestion and the need for inner-city affordable housing was unique and innovative and we were excited to receive six compelling and innovative proposals. We are extremely grateful to the bidders for their proposals and their efforts,” de Lille said.
The 6 hectare Foreshore Freeway Precinct is the last remaining undeveloped land in the inner city, and the response to the RPF shows that there is a market appetite for:
1. Address traffic congestion.
2. Include affordable housing.
3. Deal with apartheid spatial planning .
4. Ensure integration of different communities and income levels and establish inclusive communities as committed to in the DA’s national manifesto.
5. Provide inclusive spaces to be funded by partnerships with private sponsors and leveraging City assets and optimisation these assets to drive economic benefits for the City in line with the DA’s manifesto for Cape Town.
“The City Manager has agreed that the RFP will be redrafted to address concerns raised during the appeal,” de Lille added. “I wish to thank the developers who participated in our first RFP. I trust that they will understand that in trying something innovative and unique we had no precedent to reply upon and I hope that they will be in a position to participate again when the new RFP is issued.”
Picture: Brett Herron/Twitter