So off we shuffled to chat with Boardwalk head honcho Clifford Ngakane who was in a meeting or something with Mabutho Zwane from the ECGRB so we got passed on to someone else who knows how to wield a pen.<\/p>\n
We also posed the exact same questions to Zwane and cronies at the ECGRB and received deafening silence and NO ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of receipt at all.<\/p>\n
After a while the answers to your and our questions came back as follows from the Boardwalk<\/a>:<\/p>\n Is The Boardwalk<\/a> meeting its commitment of local job creation during the building phase?<\/strong><\/p>\n A large number of jobs within the banqueting and retail sections have been lost.<\/strong><\/p>\n Is The Boardwalk<\/a> meeting its commitments in terms of employment?<\/strong><\/p>\n How many contractors are from out of town?<\/strong><\/p>\n How many contract workers are from the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro?<\/strong><\/p>\n Does this meet the commitments made in the bid?<\/strong><\/p>\n Is The Boardwalk<\/a> meeting its commitment of using local suppliers?<\/strong><\/p>\n The Boardwalk<\/a> committed to supporting a number of festivals and events. To date it has not supported the Algoa Sailing Week, the Viva Africa Festival, the CANSA Big Walk, and has downscaled its birthday month celebrations.<\/strong><\/p>\n Ectour \u2013 a commitment to tourism development in province appears defunct. What is being done to revive it, and how are the funds being spent?<\/strong><\/p>\n Construction Progress on the Boardwalk at 10 November 2011<\/p>\n For answering our questions we allow the Boardwalk<\/a> to give themselves a punt here:<\/p>\n The Boardwalk<\/a> \u2013 tourism potential<\/strong><\/p>\n The Boardwalk<\/a>\u2019s prime location and unique combination of casino games, entertainment, restaurants and shopping options, have made the complex one of the most visited attractions in the city, second only to the beaches. Since opening its doors in 2000 The Boardwalk<\/a> has attracted more than 30 million visitors.<\/p>\n When the expansion project is complete by December 2012, it is anticipated that many out-of-town locals and foreign visitors will be attracted to the city. The increased capacity of the new Conference Centre, backed up by the luxurious new 5-star Boardwalk Hotel with 140 keys, will meet the demands of even the most discerning international visitors.<\/p>\n Despite the size limitations of the old conference centre The Boardwalk<\/a> nevertheless hosted more than 3 000 conferences and 500\u00a0000 delegates during the past 10 years. The new multi-purpose international-standard Conference Centre will have capacity for 1\u00a0800 delegates and will incorporate the latest trends, increasing Port Elizabeth\u2019s attractiveness as a business destination.<\/p>\n As part of the Sun International group, The Boardwalk<\/a> is also well aware of the profound impact big events and shows can have on a local economy.\u00a0 They attract new markets and a knock-on effect for a range of local businesses as was evident from the recent FIFA Soccer World Cup.<\/p>\n Although The Boardwalk<\/a> has hosted many quality shows and popular performers to date, a lack of capacity hampered efforts to draw larger shows which act as a catalyst for increased tourism. But the new multi-purpose conference facility meets the requirements of major international bands and other acts, allowing Port Elizabeth the opportunity to become part of Sun International\u2019s touring circuit for major acts.<\/p>\n The Boardwalk<\/a>\u2019s casino is also being upgraded, and will feature separate smoking and non-smoking casinos and salons priv\u00e9, plus a refurbished restaurant<\/a> and pub facilities inside the casino complex. The latest international technology in slot machines and popular table games will also be introduced to the complex.<\/p>\n The retail area is also being enlarged, and will house and even wider variety of restaurants catering for all tastes, plus a range of shopping options.\u00a0 When it is opened in December 2012, the planned R35-million musical water extravaganza in the lake surrounding the retail area will be one of the largest in the southern hemisphere.<\/p>\n To ensure secure parking and easy access for all visitors, a new underground parking garage will offer over 850 bays, bringing the full parking capacity at the complex to over 2 000.<\/p>\n \t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Since the commencement of the Boardwalk expansion we at MyPE have had a number of people raise concerns that the Boardwalk appears to be not meeting their commitments made to the public before the granting of their license. So off we shuffled to chat with Boardwalk head honcho Clifford Ngakane who was in a meeting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[1289,5],"class_list":{"0":"post-5303","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-mype","8":"tag-port-elizabeth-2","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5303\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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![\"Boardwalk](\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/plugins\/rss-poster\/cache\/9891a_Boardwalk_Construction_20111110.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n