INLSA
The empty restaurants on Durbans beachfront could be earning big rentals, but city bosses say prospective tenants do not meet BEE requirements nor do they have mass appeal.
The empty restaurants on Durban’s beachfront could be earning R1.5 million a year in rent for the city, helping to ease the overwhelming burden on ratepayers. Instead they are costing R64 000 a month for cleaning and security.
And it looks like they will stay empty for another Christmas – the third peak holiday season since they were built in the R300m beachfront upgrade to coincide with the World Cup in 2010.
This is despite several proposals from established restaurant groups and a hotel group to get the sites up and running.
Yesterday the city said the proposals it had received did not respond to its specifications.
The eThekwini Municipality’s Philip Sithole said a new tender, calling for interested restaurateurs, would be advertised in two weeks.
This is the third time the municipality has called for proposals from the hospitality industry.
Now, it said, consideration would be given to companies that complied with the black economic empowerment codes of good practice. The new tenants had to “embrace empowerment”, Sithole said.
“We are hopeful that this time around, we will get the right responses.”
The tender document was flexible and transparent and the city’s bosses felt they were trying to do their best, he added. “We want businesses that can prove that they will be sustainable and add value to the beachfront experience.”
Warren Ozard, from the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa, said that at a recent Durban Chamber and Commerce Tourism committee meeting, a member of Tsogo Sun had said they were prepared to get the three facilities up and running – and all profits would go to the city.
“This was put to the city a month or two ago but it was rejected… It is unbelievable; we are promoting domestic tourism yet tourists who came here two-and-a-half years ago will still see empty restaurants,” he said.
Sithole would not be drawn on the previous submissions and presentations made by interested restaurateurs.
“There has been no final decision from us on Tsogo Sun’s proposal… It’s a good proposal that can be considered, but for now we have to adhere to supply-chain management processes. Our priority is to go out on tender so that the process is fair,” he said.
DA councillor Rick Crouch said the empty restaurant spaces could be added to Durban’s collection of white elephants.
“The space is there, the tenants are there that want to rent the space but they are being rejected,” he added.
Crouch submitted a notice of motion on September 13 to the council inquiring about the empty restaurant spaces.
He has been told by deputy mayor Nomvuzo Shabalala that his questions would be answered at the next council meeting at the end of this month.
