The eThekwini Municipality recently established the City Planning Commission, the first in the country, which is an advisory think-tank body appointed by Council to propel the Municipality’s long term vision and strategic plan.

The municipality says the formation of the Commission is also part of the City’s institutional transformation, in an endeavour to strengthen and build an efficient administration.

City Manager Sibusiso Sithole says the main objective of the Commission is to guide the Municipality on a wide range of issues pertaining to the development of its long term growth and development strategy.

This strategy is aligned to the strategic objectives and targets of the National Development Plan and the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy.

The City Planning Commission currently comprises of 14 part-time external commissioners, including a chairperson and deputy chairperson, who were all selected on the basis of their vast skills and expertise.

The Commissioners are individuals who are committed to contribute towards ensuring that Durban becomes a great City as well as fundamentally change the development profile of its entire people and consequently shed all vestiges of apartheid colonialism especially from a spatial planning perspective.

Sithole says the executive committee members will meet and interact with the commissioners on 18 June 2015 to discuss key strategic issues for the City.