Partnership restores Mile’s golden gleam

290709 Beach Makeover Plans to revamp Durban’s famed Golden Mile, from South Beach to Country Club Beach, to accommodate the Fifa 2010 World Cup fan park will link New Beach, where Sea World once stood, to the R3.1 billion Moses Mabhida Stadium. Artist’s impressions show the restaurant development planned for Addington, New and Dairy beaches, as well as the Rachel Finlayson Pool, which according to the head of strategic projects and 2010 planning at the eThekwini Municipality, Julie-May Ellingson, will be cleaned up to give better views of the ocean when swimming in the pool. The city wants to ‘de-clutter, demolish and develop, creating a seamless flow along the beachfront to improve security’. CCTV cameras will be installed and no old buildings or trees will block the view. In these images from a city slide show, are, clockwise from top left, the promenade at New Beach, the restaurant at that beach, a cafe at Dairy Beach, the Rachel Finlayson Pool, and two views of Addington Beach.

Published Dec 17, 2013

Durban - Tsogo Sun chief executive Marcel von Aulock says the group has featured prominently on Durban’s Golden Mile for many years, with a significant investment in real estate on the beachfront in the form of the Southern Sun Elangeni, Southern Sun North Beach, Garden Court Marine Parade, Garden Court South Beach, and the SunCoast Casino and Entertainment World including the SunSquare and the SunCoast Towers hotels.

The investment in the Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani complex “is a direct response to the substantial investment into the revival of the Durban beachfront promenade by the eThekwini Municipality”, which “is ensuring that Durban can be reintroduced to South African and international business and leisure tourists as the beautiful and vibrant beachfront destination it once was”.

Von Aulock adds that the municipality has already achieved “excellent results”.

“Having a beachfront is a privilege many cities around the world share; however, having an aesthetically pleasing, user-friendly and accommodating beachfront is something that needs to be worked on constantly by all stakeholders.

“We believe that only through effective public/private sector partnerships can tourism attractions such as the beachfront be sustained, and that corporate South Africa is duty-bound to partner with the government to ensure our country realises its tourism potential.”

The city’s commitment to the rehabilitation of the Golden Mile has seen over R500 million invested into its revival.

The Mile was redeveloped in late 2009 in time for the 2010 World Cup, when it was resurfaced and widened between Ushaka Marine World and Moses Mabhida Stadium.

Last year, the second phase of the beachfront upgrade saw the coastline from Country Club Beach to Blue Lagoon receiving an extensive facelift.

“There is no doubt the Golden Mile is back,” said Von Aulock, adding that

the Tsogo Sun commitment of R220m into two of its properties on the Golden Mile “is such a positive signal to the future of Durban as a tourist destination”. - Saturday Star