Alex upgrade picks up pace
25 July 2003
Development in Alexandra township in Johannesburg is set to pick up pace this year as the Alexandra Renewal Project pumps in R250-million to get two years of planning off the ground.
The Alexandra Renewal Project, now in its third year, is shifting focus from planning and research to implementation. The upgrading of the township will take seven years, at an estimated cost of R1.3-billion.
Central to the Project are social and economic development and housing. In its 2003/2004 proposals, the Project also emphasises three aspects crucial to its success: reducing social stress, HIV-Aids and the youth.
One of the improvements Alexandra residents can expect to see this year is the creation of a public square in Watt Street and the development of the Pan Africa Taxi Rank at the Wynberg entrance to Alexandra. Here pavements will be improved, landscaping will be undertaken, and benches, streetlights and storm water drainage will be installed.
Up to six small business nodes will also be built in old Alexandra, providing opportunities for budding entrepreneurs such as hairdressers, shoe repairers and butchers.
The Project also intends to implement various skills upgrading courses in the township. Training programmes, emphasising science and technology, will be run for foundation phase teachers and those involved in early childhood development.
In the area of health, the Project plans to emphasise HIV-Aids prevention and care, focussing on women and the youth. Two workshops will be held for pregnant women, and 140 people will attend Peer Education and Training-the-Trainer courses.
More primary healthcare nurses will be employed and trained and, according to the Project, this will help ease the pressure on public health facilities. Eighty health care volunteers from various non-governmental organisations will also be trained in home care for the terminally ill.
Alexandra's housing crisis will
also be addressed, with plans to upgrade the township's informal housing by providing services, relocating 2 500 households from dangerous areas - such as along the Jukskei River - or land needed for redevelopment, planning and building housing developments, and refurbishing the M2 Men's Hostel.
Several existing facilities have been identified for upgrading and improving, such as the Marlboro Transit Facility.
Source: City of Johannesburg website
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