Taxi plan puts traders' income at risk

Warwick Junction provides ranks for about 2000 taxis that carry 400,000 - 500,000 commuters a day.

“Benefiting from this passing traffic, informal traders in the Warwick precinct turn over an estimated R1bn a year,” Skinner said.

“However, take-home incomes are usually R1000 or less a month as margins are low, so they rank amongst the city's poorest,” she said.

The eThekwini municipality believes that the project will improve the circumstances of traders. Deputy mayor Logie Naidoo said a study by the business support and markets unit found that only 2% of commuters shopped at Warwick Junction.

Mayor Obed Mlaba said the project was an opportunity to centralise the city's transport facilities and create one hub. “We are looking at creating a one-ticket system that will allow commuters to make use of intermodal transport,” he said.

Councillor Faso Majolo, chairman of the eThekwini Municipality Informal Economic Forum, which represents street traders from various organisations, said some traders would be accommodated inside the mall and others outside, but they would all have access to the mall's toilets and to lock-up facilities.

Phillip Sithole, head of the business support and markets unit, said the main aim of the project was to reconfigure roads in the area to deal with the large volume of traffic. The R700m public-private investment in the area includes freeway flyovers so that vehicles not bound for Warwick Junction do not add to the congestion.

“The planned system of taxi ranks based on regions will be more convenient for commuters and will ease pedestrian flow and reduce the number of vehicle and pedestrian accidents in the area,” he said.

However, traders from the Early Morning Market, who are being moved to premises about 300m away, are concerned that they will miss out on the passing trade from buses, taxis and trains that will inevitably be attracted to the mall, which will be directly in the path of commuters.

“Traders are being relocated to an unknown materials management building that has been standing vacant for 30 years and was not designed for business,” said Harry Ramlall, chairman of the Early Morning Market Traders' Association.

Skinner said the proposed premises did not have enough space for all the traders and 185 traders around the site would be displaced.

The vendors have taken their battle to court in a bid to force the municipality to allow the 500 Early Morning Market traders, including those without permits, to continue trading until a solution is found.

The court ruled that legal tenants could remain until the relocation deadline on 31 July 2209. Only 177 of the 673 market stalls are legally occupied.

City manager Michael Sutcliffe said the illegal traders had been offered the chance of filling in forms to become legalised, but only 15 had done so.

Majolo said the traders had given their full support to the project. “All the street traders will benefit by getting better facilities and infrastructure,” he said.

Source: Business Day

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