Western Cape Premier, Alan Winde – set to deliver his State of the Province Address 2022 in Velddrif, Cape Town tomorrow (Tuesday, February 15) – has promised to outline his response to what he calls  the “second pandemic of unemployment”.

“With COVID-19 now becoming endemic, we have a window of opportunity to look to the future and make the changes we need to grow the economy and help businesses create jobs while ramping up our efforts to fight crime,” he said.

“I will reflect on the lessons we learned from the pandemic, and how we will now use them in our response to unemployment, with a specific focus on infrastructure-enabled job creation.”

Last week, Winde engaged with the Velddrif Business Chamber ahead of the SOPA, where he outlined several programmes that would benefit the town and the greater West Coast district in the coming year and beyond.

“These programmes will enhance infrastructure and improve safety and service delivery,” he said, highlighting that he had discussed issues of road infrastructure and related challenges, efforts to promote tourism – particularly as it related to cycling – the lack of policing resources, and promoting green practices and protecting the environment.

Winde pointed out during the engagement, that to enable and drive local tourism in the Berg River municipality, the Western Cape government was particularly focusing on restoring and protecting its natural heritage.

This includes:

• The finalisation of the Berg River Estuary Management Plan by Cape Nature in partnership with the Berg River Municipality. The estuary has since been recognised as a Ramsar site – noting it as a Wetland of International Importance.
• The rehabilitation of riparian areas in the Berg and Breede catchments, which will continue to focus on the rehabilitation, including the clearing of invasive alien species to restore the ecosystem, enabling the filtering of pollutants, attenuating the effects of droughts and floods, and preventing erosion.

Furthermore, to truly engage with and enjoy this natural heritage, many choose to cycle through the town. “To this end, I am also pleased to announce the upgrading of 1 145metres of gravel sidewalks within Velddrif. Surface footways will be provided on at least one side of every road,” said Winde.