THE City of Cape Town has approved a proposal for the controversial sale and lease of a multimillion rand property in the millionaire’s playground of Clifton.
A full council sitting on Wednesday voted in favour of a public tender for the sale of portions of the land and the lease of the remaining sections of the land‚ despite protests from opposition parties.
A number of Clifton residents have also objected to the sale of the land‚ with Clifton Organised — a residents’ group formed in reaction to the proposal — leading the charge.
Known as the Clifton Precinct‚ the land has parking garages used by Clifton bungalow owners‚ a restaurant and sports grounds.
The city wants the winning bidder to build underground parking garages. It also wants a “commercial space” for a retail business and “a limited number of boutique line shops”.
The winning bidder will operate and manage the development on a long-term lease but another piece of land will be sold off for a residential development.
At the meeting‚ African National Congress councillor Jeremiah Thuynsma asked why the city was in a hurry to sell the land to the highest bidder.
Grant Haskin from the African Christian Democratic Party criticised the city‚ saying it had rushed the process and skipped certain processes.
He said city officials confirmed to him in writing that there were no evaluations for the land and that the city had rushed the public participation process.
But the Democratic Alliance’s Demetri Qually argued that the process had not been finalised yet and there was still going to be public participation on the development.
“There is no doubt that the Clifton Precinct Upgrade project will generate much further comment and input ... this is not the end of the public participation in the process‚” he said.
Clifton Organised spokesman Janey Ball said they were disappointed by the council’s decision but had expected this outcome.
“It was evident with the speed it (the project) was at ... what we were hoping for was a higher level of transparency‚” she said.
Mr Ball said they would review the minutes of the meeting and determine their next move.
RDM News Wire
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