Proposed Mixed-use Development on Farm

PROPOSED MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT ON THE FARM MIDDELFONTEIN 323, THABA NCHU – A DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE OF THE BAROLONG BOO-SELEKA TRADITIONAL COUNCIL

Development Initiative Background (as narrated by the Moroka Royal Family of Thaba Nchu)

The Chieftancy of the Baralong boo Seleka of Thaba Nchu, currently under the leadership of Her Majesty Kgosigadi Audrey Gaongalelwe Moroka, has come forward with projects and funding that will uplift and create sustainable job opportunities for the community. Also to position itself as a Chieftancy that is within a Metro Municipality.

Thaba Nchu has 42 rural villages. The furthest village is situated approximately 65km from the small and deteriorated CBD itself. The current town is too small to cater for the fast increasing population of the area, which results to residents having to travel approximately 65km to Bloemfontein to access proper services.

This is a major concern to the Traditional Council as it means that there’s no development and basic services for the locals. The Royal House therefore took it upon themselves to ensure that they assist Government by coming up with their own projects to better the lives of the people of Thaba Nchu. Also assisting to lend a hand in creating permanent jobs as it is one of our Presidents objectives.

The Development Steering Committee appointed by the Traditional Council has engaged Local Government with the envisaged projects and the Executive Mayor of Mangaung Metro Municipality has blessed the proposal and given his full support.

The Vision of the Royal Family

The Royal family strongly feels that Thaba Nchu is characterized by a high number of unemployed people of a poor educational output, poor health facilities, poor shopping and business facilities, lack of housing, lack of orphanages, colleges and other facilities like the old age and poor road infrastructure.

The Royal family as the community leaders are taking it upon themselves to see to it that something urgently be done to address these issues, particularly unemployment, especially those with qualifications from institutions of higher education. Kgosigadi Moroka spent years searching for solutions to these challenges. She now feels she is making a breakthrough as she is negotiating with organizations that could plan and fund projects for the upliftment of the people of the area.

Location

The Farm Middelfontein 323, in extent ca 670Ha, is located immediately south west of the N8/Brand Street interchange extending south and west along the N8 national road towards the township of Botshabelo. As the primary east-west transport corridor for the east of the Free-state, the N8 connects Bloemfontein to Maseru, in Lesotho, the proposed Thaba Nchu-Boshabelo node representing the midway point between the two. Brand Street forms the key north-south transport axis for the town of Thaba Nchu, providing access from the CBD and industrial zones to the N8. This farm forms the south west quadrant of the urban node of Thaba Nchu and could be viewed as the key land component in terms of joining the town of Thaba Nchu to the township of Botshabelo and in so doing creating the critical mass for a combined service node to significantly off-set the ‘pull’ of the Provincial service centre of Bloemfontein.

Development Description

a.) New Access Boulevard and Structuring Spine (Light Blue)/ Secondary Roads (Yellow)

New powerful boulevard functions as an accessibility route and is the key structuring spine for the development concept while the inclusion of new secondary roads provides for diversity and choice within the development.

b.) Retail (Red)/Specialist Retail (Orange)/Taxi Rank (Dark Blue)/Petrol Station (Grey)

The establishment of a modern Shopping Mall/Specialist Retail precinct at the SE corner of the N8 (Bloemfontein to Maseru) and Brand Street (Main access to ThabaNchu CBD) will provide the key anchor and catalyst for the entire development. The Shopping Mall, which will benefit from an active edge along a manicured wetland system, will incorporate a regional multi-modal facility and allied services related opportunities on site including a regional Petrol Filling Station facility. This precinct will provide a powerful new address at the ‘leading adge’ of the proposed development.

c.) Regional Health Services Facilities (Plum)

Moving along the main boulevard and located at the heart of the development are the new regional health facilities. These may be both public and or private in nature. These modern facilities, desperately required in the region, will be accessible via a dedicated bridge and urban street from the Shopping Mall precinct to facilitate easy movement of people to and from the Primary Transport Hub.

d.) Commercial (Dark Red)/Light Industrial (Purple)/Mixed Use (Light Blue)

The anchor that holds the other end of the development is an exciting Commercial, Light Industrial/Mixed Use precinct which both responds and adds to the existing adjacent commercial uses. This node will provide the appropriate environment to maximize the potential of transport-based business opportunities along the N8 corridor. In this instance, a new manufacturing zone will be created together with the necessary supporting logistics and office parks.

e.) Residential (Brown)/Education (Dark Purple)

The final piece of the overall development puzzle is the establishment of several diverse medium and high density residential estates which will, in some cases, be intertwined with some of the above social uses but otherwise be more densely located towards the SE boundary of the development area – away from the busy N8 and less friendly uses proposed. These residential estates will offer a wide range of housing opportunities as well as a new contemporary school.

Finally, but critically in terms of the general aspiration of establishing a Thaba Nchu-Botshabelo services node that can compete with Bloemfontein, an existing transport connection has been identified between the boundary of this development and the eastern fringe of Botshabelo township which, if formalized in terms of both the relevant planning and infrastructure investment thereafter, would provide an early arterial connection between these two towns and commence the process of arriving at the necessary critical services mass.

Socio-Economic Impact

The proposed substantial mixed-use development concept proposes the development of up to 750,000m2 of new retail, commercial, light industrial, residential, sports and recreational space on the 670Ha Development Site over the next 15-20 years. Achieving this Vision will cost conservatively in the order of R5b. Importantly, it will likely generate 60,000 temporary construction and building services/suppliers jobs spread over the next 20 years and nearly 13,000 permanent jobs in the new shops, hotels, offices, factories etc created by this significant development investment.