The establishment of the Rosslyn Improvement District (RID) by the the Capital City Business Chamber (CCBC) has been hailed as a way to contribute towards the development of the area into a world-class industrial hub.

This was the sentiment shared by chief executive of the CCBC Fanie du Plessis on Monday during the launch of the improvement district in partnership with the Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD).

The improvement district was started in accordance with the City of Tshwane’s by-law for the establishment of an inter-municipal service district as outlined in sections 85 and 86 of the Municipal Systems Act, 2000.

Du Plessis said the initiative was started last year with the main aim of turning Rosslyn into a world-class industrial hub.

“People need to feel safe and secure and will want to invest in areas such as these. What we did was to bring in all these securities and related resources, which include SAPS and very importantly the Tshwane metro police,” he said.

He said his entity has an agreement with TMPD that the metro police officers ought to be visible for law enforcement.

Officers are expected to parade at improvement district offices in the morning and then be deployed wherever there were criminal incidents in the area.

“We are also putting up CCTV cameras into all the main entrances coming into Rosslyn. And should any suspicious vehicle come into Rosslyn it is going to be recognised,” he said.

Officers would use motorbikes to swiftly respond to any call for security and also focus on by-law execution and cracking down on unlawful activities in the business area.

With motorbikes, it was said, there would be more members on the ground to ensure security visibility, unlike a vehicle which would have four occupants.

Du Plessis said: “We arranged with companies such as BMW to provide rapid response vehicles. This is in process at the moment but this is what the entire agreement includes visibility from their side.”

Chief of metro police Yolanda Faro said Rosslyn was currently the only industrial hub in the City of Tshwane with CID.

She talked about the importance of forging a partnership with the Rosslyn CID as law-enforcement fraternity in order to fight crime.

“We cannot be everywhere. However, with the partnership that we have with the Rosslyn CID we can work together to make the area safe. We are also aiming to ensure that we bring investment in the area,” she said.

Faro said companies interested in investing in the area would feel safe owing to the initiative.

“We are also looking at having more CIDs in the Pretoria area. I think this is also about job creation. If we can have businesses investing here there will be more jobs in Pretoria. For us it is a legacy that we want to leave behind. It is something that we want to start and roll out for the entire Pretoria,” she said.

The focus of the metro police, she said, would be by-law enforcement and making sure there were no traffic violations.

“That will also ensure that there is visibility and that will assist with crime prevention. Cable theft for us is very important because if you don’t consider cable theft then you can cripple businesses,” she said.

The initiative would also make sure that at least 20 000 workers and more than 247 businesses operating in the industrial hub were safe.

Pretoria News

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Initiative to make Rosslyn a world-class industrial hub