IT’S a great accolade to be invited, together with the world’s top development managers, to London to review that city’s preparations for the 2012 Olympic Games.
And that honour goes to Lael Bethlehem, the chief executive of the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA).
Bethlehem has overseen some of Joburg’s biggest regeneration projects, which have seen the area around the Ellis Park and Soccer City stadiums being revamped; the Bus Rapid Transit system come on stream; and Hillbrow, Berea and Yeoville being rejuvenated.
In addition, Johannesburg has become a city with an enviable collection of public art, all put in place under the watchful eye of the JDA.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) invited Bethlehem to London for a three-day stay in early December 2009. “The trip was really, really fascinating,” she says.
While there, she had a look at the urban regeneration plan that London has planned as part of its preparation for the games. “They won the games on a proposal to use them to regenerate a portion of London’s East End,” she says.
The East End
The East End has traditionally been a depressed part of London, with up to 1,2 million of the city’s poorest people living within its five boroughs. It lies along the Thames River and since the industrial revolution of the late 18th century, has had a large manufacturing sector.
As a result, it’s been characterised by industrial waste and filth, polluting the soil and the river. With west-east winds, the odour from the factories has meant that no one except the very poor and successive waves of migrants have settled there.
The Ellis Park precinct has been rejuvenatedThe Ellis Park precinct has been rejuvenated While London has invested in the rejuvenation of other parts of the city, the East End has been less desirable, and therefore has been neglected. Some 80 percent of its available land is used for low cost, social housing, mostly tall blocks of flats.
It also has a much higher rate of unemployment, at between 10 and 15 percent, with life expectancy six years lower and a higher child mortality rate, than the rest of London.
The East End contains the one million poorest people in Western Europe, says Bethlehem. Greenwich falls within this area, best known for its long maritime history, the Greenwich Meridian and for the naming of Greenwich Mean Time or the familiar GMT, the standard by which the world sets its time.
Some development has taken place within the area – Tower Hamlets for example, includes much of the redeveloped Docklands, including Canary Wharf, a large office and shopping development, and three of the United Kingdom’s tallest buildings.
The Millennium Dome was also planned to life the East End. It was built originally to house the Millennium Experience, an exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millennium, opening on 1 January 2000 and running until 31 December 2000.
Challenges
Pollution has been one of the biggest challenges: the soil was heavily polluted, and old munitions from WW2 polluted a large vacant site in the middle of the East End. Because the cost of cleaning the soil was prohibitive, the task was never undertaken, until the awarding of the Olympic Games, that is.
Now that the land has been restored, already the quality of the water in the Thames in the area has improved.
The Olympic Park is rising from a 1 000ha piece of land and is large enough to contain all the facilities required: the stadium, velodrome or banked bicycle track, aqua park, media centre, broadcasting hub, and housing for the athletes. Only obvious facilities, like those for rowing, will be located outside of the venue.
The extraordinary thing about the development, says Bethlehem, is that it is two-and-a-half years ahead of schedule – it is expected to be completed by mid-2010.
Convergency plans
The development of Rea Vaya has seen major infrastructural changeThe development of Rea Vaya has seen major infrastructural change For years, officials in the East End have been concerned with becoming part of the city’s convergency plans – in other words, becoming part of the social and economic life of the rest of London. This means that besides the residential component, they have wanted businesses, sports and recreation facilities.
One of the most important ways to get this is through the development of infrastructure: the London Underground has been extended more extensively into the area; the Docklands Light Rail will make stops in the East End; and plans are afoot for the Eurostar, the train between Paris and London, to be extended into the area.
It’s hoped that better infrastructure will link the East End to the financial centre of London. “It’s been a very ambitious project,” reiterates Bethlehem.
What this all means is that it will promote property development, and bring the private sector into the East End, creating housing for middle income families. Offices and shops will spring up. Bethlehem points out that a large shopping mall is being built.
The JDA has undertaken similar infrastructure revamps in an effort to encourage the private sector to invest in an area once the infrastructure has been improved. The Jewel District, the Fashion District, the area around Diagonal Street, Newtown, Vilakazi Street in Soweto have all been recipients of the JDA’s magic wand.
While Bethlehem is not entirely convinced the Olympic Park will rejuvenate the area, she doesn’t dispute that the development will mean that the “land can now be brought into the investment cycle”.
For instance, she wonders whether the huge swimming and cycling facilities will ever be used again. She does indicate that it was good to be with her counterparts from the rest of the world.
Bethlehem was most impressed with the OECD – not only for the invitation and because it paid for her trip, but also because it paid money to the JDA.
Story: City of Johannesburg