Objections fail to halt nod for Bay trade hub

[caption id="attachment_236603" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Nelson Mandela Bay
File picture: Deneesha Pillay[/caption]

Amended report approved, writes Siyamtanda Capa

Attempts to halt a trade and investment hub aimed at reviving the metro’s economy were unsuccessful yesterday after economic development head Anele Qaba fought relentlessly for councillors to endorse the proposal.

Despite objections by ANC and EFF councillors to the approval of investment and trade hub Baygrow, the report was approved with some amendments to the initial recommendations.

The report was agreed upon by all councillors, subject to all legal prescripts being adhered to.

Baygrow is a proposed public-private partnership between the municipality and the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber to establish an agency that will market the city and hunt for investors.

The report for the project – which would need at least R27-million to implement – will be tabled in a mayoral committee meeting next week before it is presented to a full council meeting next month.

Some councillors said they were concerned the national Treasury’s public-private partnerships policy had not been followed.

The policy states that the national Treasury and all relevant role players must be informed and a feasibility study conducted 60 days before the proposal is tabled before the council.

But Qaba said the city had taken a resolution that allowed it to enter into partnerships without having to consult the national Treasury first.

Before the report was approved, ANC councillor Buyelwa Mafaya said she could not allow the partnership to be approved as she knew processes had not been followed.

“As an institution we cannot, this partnership requires that the municipality give R6-million, it’s a huge amount,”Mafaya said. “If the process is not followed, we are as dead as a doornail, and that is not correct.” Mafaya said the report only contained what the partnership would look like and how it would benefit the municipality.

“The processes are not there and I can confirm that if they are not followed, it would be very wrong for us to agree on this, otherwise we would be like Sassa and Eskom and we can’t be like that, knowing very well that the processes were not followed,” Mafaya said.

“The proposal is right but how it has been done is wrong.”

She suggested the proposal be deferred and brought back to the next committee meeting in six weeks. DA councillor and acting chairman Dean Biddulph said six weeks could be too long for an unemployed person. EFF councillor Yoliswa Yako said she was uncomfortable with how some things seemed to have been omitted from the report.

“This is a huge amount to give.

We are not just giving, we are investing. However, I don’t see a recommendation that says the committee holds anyone accountable in terms of deliverables.

“I am also uncomfortable with how everything is put in this report.

“We don’t need to be blackmailed and manipulated with changing recommendations. With the same thing that happened with Harambe we asked that we be given information, but we were told we were stalling progress, but the information never came,” Yako said.

Qaba said the concerns would be addressed in a memorandum of understanding.

“We have looked at what legislation says regarding partnerships and we have drawn up guidelines in line with legislation – this was approved in council,” he said.

Qaba urged the councillors to consider how much an economic hub like Baygrow would cost the city should it not enter into a partnership.

“This is a function that the city has to do but business is bringing in money to help the city perform its function better, ” Qaba said. “This partnership would be similar to the partnership we have with Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism in the sense that we will be giving grant funding knowing that we won’t make a profit.

“We are not doing this to make a profit. In this case the chamber will be putting money in when they have nothing to gain.”