Page 143 - UGU Dstrct Mun IDP Report '21-22

3.6.12 Retail Trade
Retail activity is concentrated in a ribbon development of small towns along the coastal strip that act as commercial and service centres for local residents and neighbouring rural communities. Port Shepstone is the main commercial centre and a major source of employment. Shelley Beach is the fastest growing commercial centre. There has been a gradual change in rural settlement patterns, from a dispersed settlement pattern to a concentration of residential sites around the main access routes. Ray Nkonyeni is the major contributor with regards to retail and commercial services due to its location there are many commercial activities and uses that are concentrated within the municipality.
However, in other local municipalities that are within Tribal land there are limited, or local convenient facilities and they occur in residential areas unlike with highly urbanised areas like Ray Nkonyeni LM where there are town centres with large retail commercial centres. In Municipalities within rural areas, this takes the form of spaza shops and general dealers. The UMdoni Local Municipality offers a narrow range of shopping experiences. The areas within the district municipality that do not have commercial centres such as UMzumbe due to their geographic location (located within Tribal land) depend on those that are in close proximity.
Within Ugu district municipality there are micro and small retailers that are attempting to enter the retail market but are often unable to compete with large national and multi-national retailers in well-developed town centres. Such businesses are often restricted to activities such as taverns, spaza shops, car washes, fruit and vegetable sales and cell phone kiosks. Such restricted activities result in high levels of competition within the lowest end of the market. There are strong linkages between the retail and tourism sectors within the Ugu district and the seasonality of the tourism industry is felt by local retailers. The Shelley Beach Mall has attracted substantial commercial development. Toyota and BMW’s move to Shelley Beach has been a major boost for the area. The industrial park development for the node has been welcomed by businesses. The Shelley Beach node captures a market that extends to the Eastern Cape with large volumes of public sector employees frequenting the mall over weekends, and especially at month-end.
The business and real estate hubs are located within different urban centres of the district. There are approximately 3 778 businesses within Ugu and the majority are located within Ray Nkonyeni due to the size of that municipality. Approximately 50% of these businesses consist of wholesale and retail facilities as well as hotels and restaurants. There is a complete dominance of Ray Nkonyeni along with UMdoni in hosting many businesses and real estates. Other than Harding in UMuziwabantu, the economic activities recorded in the remaining rural municipality is negligible.
3.6.13 Mining
The mining and related processing of stone into various aggregates and crusher dust is essentially aimed at supplying the local construction industry and to boost the local economy. However, the Ugu GDS states that Mining is one of the poorest performing sectors in terms of GVA growth. This is due to a number of factors. There is therefore a need to enhance and encourage investment in this sector, through ensuring market stability. One of the ways to do this is to enhance the formalisation of the sector. In the case of the Margate quarry of NPC it is evident that a number of brick and block making yards have established on the “doorstep” of the quarry. The construction material industry appears to be benefiting from its location in relation to the quarry. Various other quarries are located throughout the area. The Idwala Carbonates facility in Ray Nkonyeni LM is the major employer in the District but receives limited attention in terms of strategic planning. There are also potentially open cast mining opportunities on the coast (to the south of Ugu).
3.6.14 Informal Economy
The municipality is dominated by rural character and most economic viable areas are found within the Ray Nkonyeni jurisdiction as it is mostly urban and comprises of most of the district’s population groups. The municipality does have an existing informal economy policy which forms part of the LED strategy to guide the rising of economic ventures within rural areas and the informal economies within urban areas. This is in line with the PGDS and the DGPS and the municipal IDP also impacting on the development of the SDBIPs to further acknowledge and grow this economy.
3.6.15 Investment Retention Policy
The offering of investment incentives and business retention measures is the worldwide practice in both developed and developing countries, provinces and cities. For government to attract and grow investment, to steer investment into favoured
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