Hilton residents resist plans for property development

Residents of Hilton in Pietermaritzburg are up in arms over proposed developments that would see residential, office, commercial and industrial zones being established in the suburb.

Their main concerns are that the proposed Hilton-Mondi development, on Mondi-owned land, would transform the area into a commercial hub, ruining the village character and further affecting services.

Laurusco Developments says the project would lead to an investment of about R3.4 billion in the area and create about 9 000 permanent jobs and about 4 000 construction- related new jobs over between 10 and 15 years.

Hilton resident Judy Bell said many in the suburb were opposed to the development, work on which would begin next year.

"We have numerous power outages, which will only be exacerbated... there is a lot of wetland on the site, which would be taken away," she said.

The Hilton Ratepayers' Association questioned how uMgungundlovu, Msunduzi and uMngeni, the three municipalities that provided services to Hilton, would be able to provide more services when they could not supply uninterrupted services to the present residents.

A letter from the residents said that should the development go ahead, a condition to its approval should be a binding services agreement covering all aspects of service. An environmental impact report is being compiled.

Neels Brink, managing director of Laurusco Developments, said the proposed development had been planned to complement national and provincial growth strategies.

Brink said that all services would be provided in partnership with the uMngeni and uMgungundlovu municipalities.

He said the rates base would increase, allowing for further upgrades in Hilton.

The Mercury

Posted at 10:34AM Jun 10, 2010 by Editor in Cities and Towns  |  Comments[6]