New developments expected to improve area at Centurion Mall

Tags

---

19-06-2023
Read : 512 times
Pretoria Rekord
Source

Centurion Taxi Rank overflow will have to be relocated to make way for the construction.

Planned developments at the site next to Centurion taxi rank near Centurion Mall will see the land being cleared of the informal taxi rank and settlement that previously stood there.

Proposed plans also include additional taxi rank space to accommodate the unexpected growth in the number of taxis at the new rank.

Ward councillor and Tshwane finance MMC Peter Sutton said that residents and businesses around the site have complained about the area.

“People are complaining, the mall is losing business.”

According to Sutton, the taxi rank became popular and quickly grew beyond its 55-taxi capacity.

“Naturally when people heard of the facility, more taxis came and more routes were added – now we have too many taxis,” said Sutton.

The overflow taxis created an informal taxi rank next to the multi-million rand facility, but soon a small informal settlement also began to form.

The new development is a private development with mixed-use residential and business aspects.

It is a long-term project and will take about 15 to 20 years to complete.

According to the MMC, the development is expected to be in the vicinity of R4.5-billion.

It will be developed in stages, but as soon as the building starts, the area will immediately look better, with one of the first things they will build being a brick-and-mortar wall.

“When residents pass here, they will see a beautiful wall instead of a fence and building site,” said Sutton.

The original location of the Centurion taxi rank was what is now the BCX building.

During the construction of the BCX offices, the taxis set up an informal taxi rank next to the BCX building site.

With the help of the private sector, a new taxi rank was built.

This rank was plagued by many difficulties such as the impact of lockdown.

“It also happened in a period when there was an illegal administration which took me out of office for a long time,” said Sutton.

Construction of the taxi rank began in August 2019 and became operational in May 2021.

At a cost of R12-million, the taxi rank was planned to accommodate 55 taxis and includes offices for local taxi associations and space for informal traders.

It was expected, when it first opened, that 15 000 commuters would use the facility daily.

Sutton said that part of the problem was the management of the facility, with a system that isn’t kept in check made worse by the overflow of taxis.

“In the facility, the taxis queue, so as the first one fills up, the next moves to the front.”

“But the ones outside now bypass the system and get filled up as commuters exit the mall,” said Sutton.

He said that the city was working with the taxi industry to keep a system going, adding that there was more than enough space for the overflow taxis behind the facility.

The hope was that additional capacity as part of the idea behind proposed development plans would help, but that these plans would take a while to complete.

“It’s the same with the informal trader stores. There were originally 23, but they proved popular and more people came.

“Now everyone wants to move here, and it starts filling up outside.”

Sutton said that he was set to meet with the taxi association to discuss the management of the site to find solutions to the issues they faced.

Centurion taxi rank spokesperson Maria Gama said that the taxis would be moved from the land at the development to the bus depot on the other side of the rank.

Gama said that the committee had undertaken to meet regularly to operational difficulties and to make arrangements for the adjustment to the area.