Chapter 7 Collaborative and cooperative governance mechanisms in Durban
7.4 Beyond the vision: Stakeholder engagement in the Durban Aerotropolis
7.4.2. Formal structures of stakeholder engagement
Once the vision of the project had been developed from its conceptualisations (as indicated in Chapter 6), formal structures had to be set up to enable stakeholders to work together in a well- coordinated manner. The role of each of the organisations was integrally linked to the development of the Durban Aerotropolis, giving the KZN Integrated Aerotropolis Strategy a group of work streams in which each organisation was a role player (Destination Marketing Manager of TIKZN, 04/08/2016). Figure 7.1 indicates the structure of the engagements.
136
Figure 7-1 Structure of stakeholder engagement platforms of the Durban Aerotropolis
Aerotropolis Executive Committee (AEXCO)
The primary purpose of the AEXCO is to provide strategic support and direction in the development of the Aerotropolis. While the Committee will have no decision-making powers, the individual representatives will be able to take decisions that can be condoned by their respective entities. All unresolved project issues that require decisions of key partner entities will be referred to this executive committee for final resolution.
Steering Committee
The governance structure for the implementation of the IAS necessitated the formation of the Aerotropolis Steering Committee (ASC) and four working groups (AMU, ASC, TORs).
The stakeholders discussed in section 7-2 form part of the Durban Aerotropolis Steering Committee, convened by the KZN EDTEA. The Department also provides a secretariat for this committee. The stakeholders that are part of the steering committee are signatories in the memorandum of understanding (MoU) that commits each of them to the development of the aerotropolis. The Durban Aerotropolis Steering Committee oversees and supports the aerotropolis development role of the Dube TradePort Corporation. The steering committee work is also supported by four working groups that were created in accordance with the 10 strategic levers of the KZN Integrated Aerotropolis Strategy (EDTEA, 2015).
137 The Durban Aerotropolis Steering Committee and its subsequent working groups are structured as depicted in Figure 7-1. Their roles and responsibilities are discussed in the next section.
Working Groups
The Durban Aerotropolis has four working groups, each focusing on the different aspects of the project. These are discussed here.
Working Group 1 also referred to as the “Route Development and Air Services Committee”
comprising ACSA, the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Dube TradePort Corporation, Tourism KwaZulu-Natal, Trade and Investment KwaZulu-Natal, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport and the eThekwini Municipality, has been established to coordinate and promote international air services to King Shaka International Airport (AMU, 2016).
Working Group 2 supports strategic levers two, four and ten of the KZN Integrated Aerotropolis Strategy. Strategic lever 2 envisions integrated and coordinated spatial planning by all KZN governmental stakeholders at local, district and provincial levels. Strategic lever 4 is about full commercial development and occupation of all available land in the Aerotropolis Core Area (Dube TradePort/King Shaka International Airport) and its immediate surroundings.
Strategic lever 10 centres on a sustainable Durban Aerotropolis that embodies economic viability, environmental integrity, social inclusion and strong leadership.
Given the above, the establishment of Working Group 2 therefore broadly seeks to coordinate spatial planning, investment promotion, commercial development and sustainability of the Durban Aerotropolis. This meets the requirements outlined in the IAS as per the strategic goals.
Working Group 3 is anchored on strategic levers six and nine, which are about efficient, integrated multimodal transport networks that meet the international standards of first and last mile of air travel, and about creating solid municipal infrastructure and engineering services that support a continuous supply of services like electricity, water, sanitation, roads, and other infrastructure crucial for the Durban Aerotropolis. Given the above strategic levers, Working Group 3 therefore coordinates multimodal transport and infrastructure for the Durban Aerotropolis and fulfils the requirements set out in the IAS as per the two strategic goals.
Working Group 4 addresses strategic levers three and five. Strategic lever three seeks to achieve equitable and inclusive growth that addresses the triple challenges of inequality,
138 unemployment and poverty, as identified in the National Development Plan policy. Strategic lever five is about facilitating optimum knowledge support, thought leadership and human capital that meet the industrial and commercial needs of the growing Durban Aerotropolis with potential to export such skills and knowledge. Working Group 4 broadly coordinates knowledge support, equitable and inclusive growth, ICT and Smarty City for the Durban Aerotropolis and fulfils the requirements set out in the KZN Integrated Aerotropolis Strategy as per the two strategic goals.
Management of the Durban Aerotropolis
The project management unit, known as the Aerotropolis Management Unit (AMU) is a resource available to coordinate all stakeholder engagements and ensure that the partnerships created are sufficiently fruitful to see the end of project implementation. There have been conflicting views however, with other respondents raising issues about why an AMU unit was set up when there is Dube TradePort Corporation (Director of Research and Development at EDTEA; Deputy Director of Policy and Planning at EDTEA).
The KZN Integrated Aerotropolis Strategy states that “the establishment of an Aerotropolis Development Corporation (ADC) is one imperative that is too important to ignore” (EDTEA, 2015). “The Durban Aerotropolis cannot be developed through committees with implementation left to individual stakeholder entities. The feasibility of establishing this ADC will have to be tested as a matter of urgency”. It turns out that many of the stakeholders already assumed that the so-called ADC would become the Dube TradePort and not necessarily a new support structure called the AMU. Because of this, there is “uncertainty in who will run the aerotropolis project moving forward whether it’s the DTP, AMU, EDTEA” (Director of Research and Development at EDTEA, 01/07/2016).
In addition to coordination of stakeholder engagements, the AMU is responsible for project monitoring and evaluation. The monitoring and evaluation framework provides a mechanism to monitor implementation progress and evaluate the impact of specific interventions (EDTEA, 2015). In order to ensure optimum utilisation, the monitoring and evaluation must incorporate the review of effectiveness and efficiency of the deployment of these resources (EDTEA, 2015) The discussion above has provided the engagement structure of the Durban Aerotropolis and explored the roles and responsibilities of each of the groups involved. Below is a section on intergovernmental collaboration.
139