There are plans to turn Nasrec into a complete “smart city precinct” for the information and communication technology (ICT) and media industries.
|||Johannesburg - Nasrec - an area which was revamped at a cost of R113 million for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, but which is still underdeveloped - is set for massive development.
There are plans by the City of Joburg, Gauteng provincial and national government to turn the area into a complete “smart city precinct” for the information and communication technology (ICT) and media industries, which will also include industrial parks for the manufacturing of ICT components.
Over and above this, a sports complex is being planned by national government, close to the FNB Stadium, which will become a regional, high-intensity sports hub including a higher-performance training and development facility serving local regional and national functions. It will also accommodate headquarters for sporting bodies such as Olympics committees, netball, hockey and other sporting associations.
The city is also in negotiations with an international bank to set up its regional head office in the area.
The proposed land use mix will also include a commercial sector with warehouses, logistic centres, packaging plants and wholesale centres combined with multi-level residential uses and retail. Community facilities such as government offices will also be established.
Nasrec was close to many tourist facilities such as Gold Reef City, the Apartheid Museum, Vilakazi Street and Kliptown, which made the area attractive for development, said Herman Pienaar, director of the City of Joburg’s Development Planning, City Transformation and Spatial Planning Department.
“The plans by the city are for the area to become a link between the CBD and Soweto and Roodepoort. In the long term, it is envisaged that all major land areas in the mining belt surrounding Nasrec, which during apartheid served as a barrier between the city, Roodepoort and Soweto, will become developable once the mine dumps reclamation processes are complete,” he said.
The reclaiming of the dumps has already started in parts of Roodepoort.
This new corridor will create direct links between these areas and will eliminate old apartheid spatial planning.
It would bring thousands of people through the area, making it an ideal area to develop into such a precinct, he said.
“The international bank which has expressed an interest in establishing its African headquarters there needs premises so this could happen very soon. This will act as a catalyst for development in the area.”
Nasrec was central, close to the CBD and freeways, and had excellent public transport facilities such as three Rea Vaya stations and the Metrorail Nasrec station, he said.
Central to Nasrec is the Johannesburg Expo Centre.
Chief executive Craig Newman said the company had spent over R100 million on upgrades and renovations.
The centre is used for music concerts, exhibitions, events, conferencing and movie shoots. About 2 million feet pass through the expo centre annually.
Newman said while the expo centre was perceived by older people as only the venue for the Rand Show, for many, especially the youth, the centre was known as a popular music and sporting venue.
“The new generation flocks there for the many concerts we hold each year and that is why we are now looking at renaming the expo centre to get rid of the old theme attached to the Witwatersrand Agricultural Society and later as purely an annual exhibition centre,” he said.
Anyone wishing to secure naming rights can contact Darryl Rahme on darryl@innovate360.co.za.
History
In 1894, when Joburg was only eight years old, the Witwatersrand Agricultural Society held its first agricultural show for the then Transvaal's farming community. The best livestock was exhibited on an old brickfield next to Milner Park.
The first show was opened by Paul Kruger.
It was suspended because of the Anglo-Boer War, but started again in 1907 in Milpark which today is the University of the Witwatersrand's West Campus.
It was called Milner Park at the time when it was the venue for the Rand Show. It moved from its previous site between the Old Fort and Milner Park to Milner Park itself. It was an institution in Joburg's early life and soon expanded with national participants. In 1936, it was converted into the Empire Exhibition, which coincided with the city's 50th anniversary.
The Rand Show, whose name changed to the Rand Easter Show at one stage, was held at Milner Park until 1985.
After almost a century of being the most prestigious agricultural show in the country, a change of ownership saw the Rand Show lose its agricultural theme as more and more exhibitors outside the agricultural industries wanted to participate.
It remains an icon in Joburg's colourful history.
It has grown into a major consumer exhibition with more than 600 exhibitors each year and is now the biggest consumer exhibition in Africa and the second largest in the world outside the US.
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The Star