The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality has never lacked ambition. Instead, what it has lacked is execution.
The latest revival of plans for a R2.377bn international convention centre offers a glimpse of the kind of future this city should be striving towards.
A modern ICC capable of attracting 160,000 additional visitors a year, generating thousands of jobs and positioning the metro as a serious business tourism destination is exactly the sort of catalytic project that can change the economic trajectory of a city.
It is difficult to argue against the vision. Business tourism is lucrative.
Conference delegates spend more than leisure travellers, stay longer and often return with their families.
Cities such as Cape Town and Durban have demonstrated how convention centres can stimulate hotels, restaurants, transport operators and the broader visitor economy.
Nelson Mandela Bay, despite its stunning coastline, industrial strength and strategic location, has watched many of those opportunities pass it by simply because it lacks the facilities to compete.
But another reality cannot be ignored.
A convention centre cannot become another monument while the city beneath it continues to crumble.
Over the past year alone, Nelson Mandela Bay residents have endured prolonged water outages, repeated electricity interruptions, deteriorating roads, failing fleet management, mounting concerns over municipal finances and continued instability within the governing coalition.
Businesses have repeatedly complained that unreliable infrastructure is driving away investment long before conference organisers ever have the chance to consider the city.
Refuse trucks have stood idle because of poor fleet management. Public assets have been left vulnerable to theft.
Water infrastructure has struggled under pressure. The National Treasury has intervened over financial management concerns.
Against that backdrop, announcing a multibillion-rand convention centre inevitably raises eyebrows.
Investors considering a public-private partnership will ask the same questions residents are asking.
Can the municipality maintain roads leading to the facility? Can visitors rely on uninterrupted water and electricity?
Will the surrounding precinct be clean, safe and well managed? Will planning approvals happen efficiently?
Will political instability derail long-term commitments?
If the municipality wants the private sector to invest in an international convention centre, it must first demonstrate that it can reliably deliver the fundamentals that every successful city depends upon.
Daily Dispatch
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