2013_14 IDP Review.pdf - KZN Development Planning

Map 33: Form giving elements (excluding slope constraints)9. There are no large protected areas in the municipality. However, gamefarming is increasing and the development of more formal conservationareas can be linked to tourism development. However, private sectorinvestment will be necessary and the traditional landownership systemmight deprive the municipality and its people from this potential benefit.10. Notwithstanding the general availability of surface water, there are veryfew and isolated areas where irrigation is taking place. Soil conditionsmight lower the potential for intensive cultivation under irrigation.However, the protection of existing irrigation areas should be a priorityin the municipality.11. Commercial cultivation is very limited and cultivation activities aregenerally linked to subsistence farming in the traditional areas. Thereis limited cultivation on the northern plateau outside the Nqutu area. InMsinga, cultivation is limited mainly to the narrow flood plains next tothe main rivers.12. Plantations are the main form of cultivation in the Umvoti area and arelargely the mainstay of the local economy.13. Mining used to play an important role in the past around Dundee andGlencoe. There are still some potential and it might, depending onfuture national and international demand for coal, play an economicrole in the area. The necessary infrastructure still exists and it wouldrequire limited investment to reactivate the mining industry.Unfortunately, there is very little that can be done locally to reactivatethis sector.11.5 Conceptual frameworkThe conceptual framework brings together the development concept ofmovement, networks, nodes, hierarchies, and surfaces. It takescognizance of the development perspective and preferred scenarios. Thefollowing figure shows how the broad development concept is applied inUmzinyathi District Municipality.The conceptual framework is a derivative of the form giving elementsdetailed in the previous section. The impact of environmental factors andparticularly the history of development in the area practically draw thecurrent and future spatial structure of the area. There are elements of thisstructure that is not optimal in terms of development as well as location.However, realistically there is very limited scope to induce structuralDraft 2013/14 IDP Review Page 205Prepared by Umzinyathi District Municipality22 March 2013