End of the road for Nelson Mandela Bay tourism as separate entity?

Economic Development, Tourism and Agriculture (EDTA) Executive Director Anele Qaba has recommended that Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism (NMBT) and its functions should “be absorbed within the EDTA directorate”.

In a report to the EDTA committee that meets next week, Qaba requests in principle support for the proposal subject to the “positive outcome” of various processes.

These include an analysis of staffing, including their remuneration, contracts; titles and functions; a merger SWOT analysis and assessment of the merger costs financial and other.

In his report, that follows a review of three entities, NMBT the Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA) and Uitenhage Despatch Development Initiative (UDDI), Qaba states that the promotion of tourism is “a municipal function, in that the municipality provides policy and strategic direction trough EDTA”.

He argues that the implementation of these policies and strategies would be optimised “if the implementing agency is housed within the directorate”.

With regard to the MBDA, which he says performs a “specialised and focus task,” Qaba recommends that its mandate should be extended “to include the renewal and revitalisation of business nodes within the entire NMB area,” adding that the task of the Agency “cannot be performed internally due to critical skills shortage”.

He adds that the focus should be on emerging areas such as Korsten and “neglected areas such as Uitenhage and Despatch”.

Regarding the UDDI, Qaba recommends that subject to the same conditions applicable to NMBT, the entity should be merged with the MBDA “to form one economic development agency”.

However, he stresses, that because of the developmental needs, particularly in Uitenhage and Despatch, that the agency should “have full presence in the area in terms of its office operations and functionality”.

Qaba says there would be “no operational advantages” in integrating UDDI into the municipality but that integrating it with the MBDA will help avoid duplication and “promote boarder planning”.

Article published from Metro Minutes by Patrick Cull”.