Metropole status for Buffalo City would breed investor confidence and boost the city's competitive power to the level of other South African cities, according to business and local government research institutes quoted in the Daily Dispatch today.

According the newspaper, Shaun Willis, a municipal affairs researcher at the centre for Development and Enterprise, said metro status would give council overall autonomy over its finances, plans and decisions.

"It's too early, though, for coucillors and citizens to get excited because an avalanche of work lies ahead," Willis told the newspaper.

Border Kei Chamber of Business Director Les Holbrook projected a future where East London would, in the long term, be competitive and earn national recognition as an independent city.

Mayoral adviser Matthew Mooneiya said investor confidence was the City's biggest aspiration and metro status would give it a major boost.

Visit the Daily Dispatch