City says it ‘never committed’ to funding project at Bayworld

By Nicky Blatch

THE Nelson Mandela Bay municipality had never committed to funding Bayworld’s renovations, acting municipal manager Vuyo Zitumane said yesterday.

This comes after Bayworld management complained that the long-awaited R8-million first stage of the museum complex’s huge redevelopment project could not start because the municipality had not released money for it, even though sections of Bayworld were closed four months ago in preparation for the work.

Zitumane said the municipality had never committed to funding Bayworld’s renovations, and these would only go ahead provided a feasibility study being undertaken was approved by council.

“Bayworld is not allocated in the municipality’s budget for this financial year,” she said. “The municipality has more pressing priorities on service delivery than Bayworld.”

Zitumane said the municipality had “committed to making sure the project would be viable” but not to funding it.

She said the feasibility study, which was 95 per cent complete, had been undertaken to ascertain whether there would be a return on the costs to be invested in the project, with reference specifically to an anticipated increase of tourists, jobs and other benefits.

If the feasibility report was approved by council, the municipality would then look at raising money for the project through private investors, government agencies or loans, Zitumane said.

She said the municipality was also looking into the transfer of ownership of Bayworld from the Eastern Cape government to the municipality, but this was not a pre-condition for the renovation project.

The municipal head of arts and culture and Bayworld project manager, Palesa Kadi, said a meeting between the municipality’s recreational and cultural services business unit and Bayworld management was planned for later this month.

Bayworld PRO Elouise Matthys said on Monday it was almost four months since sections of Bayworld had been closed in preparation for the work, which was to have started in July.

She said Bayworld management had held several meetings with the municipality about the “promised” funding but all were in vain.