Cape Town - Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula visited the Prasa construction site between Cape Town train station and Paarden Eiland train depot on Tuesday.
The minister visited two sites where Prasa is focusing on building and creating jobs for residents, providing residential accommodation for students, and modernising its train depot.
Prasa’s development manager Thamsanqa Hlongwane and acting regional manager Moseli Ntsiki said the CBD construction would serve the city’s residents with its 7 000m² of retail space and 3 400 beds for student accommodation.
“The construction is set to have two phases. Phase one will be where student accommodation and retail space will be situated, with stores at the bottom and residential areas on the upper level.
“We are planning to be done with the retail space later this year as we are targeting the December trade. The student accommodation intake will be for 2024.
“The second phase of the project will have a hotel on the Strand and Adderley streets side,” Hlongwane said.
Focusing on the modernisation of the train depot, Fikile said there would be fewer train technical problems once the project was complete.
Chief security head for Prasa Alex Papadopulo explained more about the construction of the wall surrounding the depot area.
“We are working on the prevention method rather than the cure, specifically when it comes to our walling and security systems. There are poles that are being erected for CCTV surveillance.
“The camera system will be able to pinpoint a location of the perpetrator and differentiate between an animal and human being, enabling the protection service to receive the pin location from the command centre following the exact location where the interference is taking place,” he said.
Mbalula said: “With the train depot we are showcasing part of the modernisation programme we have been talking about. We are expanding the area so we can have enough space to park the trains. We are also equally showcasing the programme of skill transfer from Gibela Rail Transport Consortium to Prasa employees.
“Both projects have and will still create jobs. At the construction site 800 people have been employed and once completed 200 permanent jobs will be created.
“The place is being revamped with students’ accommodation, allowing them to be near transportation in terms of railway services, and by October this year the work will be done.”
siviwe.melapi@inl.co.za