2005-10-03,+Millions+spent+but+Alex+still+a+sad+slum,+Saturday+Star

= **Millions spent on Alex, but it is still a sad slum** =


 * Saturday Star, October 1, 2005**


 * By MICHAEL SCHMIDT**

The Alexandra Renewal Project (ARP), a R1,3-billion "presidential lead project" which is the national flagship of urban development, is in crisis, with the apartheid isolation of the Johannesburg township of Alexandra reinforced instead of ending.

Halfway through the seven-year project - announced by President Thabo Mbeki in parliament in 2001, and roundly hailed by residents of the rundown, overcrowded ghetto that is Alex - only about 30% of its budget has been spent, with very little to show for it.

The original town plan called for the opening up of Alex to the opportunities offered by its surrounding wealthier suburbs, including Sandton, but this appears to have stalled, been subverted and, in some cases, even thrown into reverse.

The original Urban Development Framework for Alexandra, which was "approved as official [Johannesburg] Council policy" on March 20 2002, had the following main elements that would have seen a radical redesign of Alex from a near-slum into a chic café-society village:

· The destruction of apartheid barriers by building road links to the M1, N3 and other neighbouring arterial roads. For example, the road bridge that terminated Alex's main street, Rooseveld Street, at Louis Botha Avenue was to have been demolished and replaced with a direct connection from Rooseveld to Grayston Drive, Sandton.

Instead, the bridge has been re-tarred. Other arterial road connections have not been built either;

· The destruction of Alex's three massive hostels - one of which cuts Hofmeyer Street in two, and the other two to the south of Rooseveld.

The plan was to reconnect Hofmeyer and replace all three hostels with high-density retail and residential blocks built around green courtyards and surrounded by new parks.

Instead, the ARP website boasts that the hostels are being "revamped" and that the M1 Hostel "may make way for new dwellings", while the M2 hostel project "had to be re-conceptualised".

· Rehabilitation of the Jukskei River and its five main tributaries in Alex, with the establishment of recreation facilities, planting of indigenous trees and building of stylish, modern four-storey residential blocks overlooking the river, which will be bridged at three points.

Instead, clean-ups by City Parks, assisted by volunteer schoolchildren, have not improved the Jukskei River much.

The new bridges appear to have been changed from vehicular to pedestrian bridges, and the new two-storey housing units on the ARP website look very different to those in the original plan;

· Establishment of a tramway system that would loop through Alex, enabling cheap and easy travel for its largely pedestrian population.

This little-known aspect of the plan is not referred to in the ARP progress report for August 2005, and is thought to have been dropped entirely; and

· The formation of commercial, retail and residential hubs at the centres of 20 "walkable districts" radiating 400m out from Alex's main crossroads.

Apart from a new 1 700-unit housing development in Zone 7, the work which has been done to date has largely revolved around "re-conceptualising" the plans, tendering and basic upgrading, including road-widening and sewerage provision.

Alan Fuchs, Democratic Alliance ward councillor, said yesterday that Alex remained physically "isolated" from the former white suburbs because the original plan had not been put into effect on the ground, thanks to years of "poor, shoddy management".

He also warned of the "potential explosion" of anger from Alex residents frustrated by the lack of action.

A new managerial team, appointed this year, was "totally rethinking the [original] plans".

But Fuchs claimed they "merely rushed around like headless chickens building stuff" to try to stave off criticism about lack of progress in the township.

He said: "It is necessary that a forensic audit be carried out by a hard-nosed independent party."

From: http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=131&fArticleId=2899201