The market square at the corner of Raglan Road and Albert Street in Fingo Village, formerly a dusty patch where informal traders set up makeshift tables, will soon be a smart brick plaza with tidy stalls where traders can display their wares.
The market square at the corner of Raglan Road and Albert Street in Fingo Village, formerly a dusty patch where informal traders set up makeshift tables, will soon be a smart brick plaza with tidy stalls where traders can display their wares.
Makana Local Economic Development Director Riana Meiring said the project was already 85% complete and it would be finished by the middle of June. The plaza is part of Makana's township regeneration programme, supported by the national government's Neighbourhood Development Partnership Grant.
Other current projects being funded under this scheme are the Egazini Memorial precinct – a plan to link the existing memorial in Fingo Village with a cultural centre proposed for the Makanaskop Ridge; the upgrading of the Mandela Street taxi route with paving and street lights; and a recreational park in Lavender Valley.
These all fall under Makana's local economic development strategy. The Raglan Road/Albert Street intersection is one of the hubs identified as having the potential for so-called nodal development. In addition to providing a designated area for informal traders, it is being designed to also attract development by the private sector.
According to the business plan for Rhini Township Regeneration, it is a logical location to obtain goods and services within the neighbourhood, because it is centrally located. It can be accessed on foot from most of the western part of Rhini Township, including Fingo Village, and is also on the major public/private transport route into and out of Rhini.
Meiring could not confirm the number of stalls for informal traders that would be built, saying, this would be determined only once a feasibility study was completed. This feasibility study, she said, would completed by June.
Asked whether it would be possible to finish the project, given that both the feasibility study and the project were due to be completed in June, Meiring told Grocott's Mail: "Please note that the study for informal traders is not only aimed at Market Square. The study looks at informal trading in Makana."
Township residents whom Grocott's Mail spoke to about the construction were mostly delighted. Fingo Village resident Thandeka Mahlangeni said, "I am happy that we will have a place where we can do our trading. The construction has already provided my father with a job. I hope this place will be helpful to all of us in the township."
Fellow resident Siphosethu Mnethe said, "It's good that the municipality is doing this for us. I cannot wait for it to be completed. I hope the municipality has also made plans to maintain the place, because such places tend to become filthy when neglected."
