City’s R120bn infrastructure plan ‘beacon of hope’

THE City’s newly launched R120 billion infrastructure portfolio seeks to trigger faster economic growth to help more Capetonians into jobs and out of poverty over the next 10 years.

Addressing the City’s development partners at the release of the inaugural annual City Infrastructure Report, mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said the 10-year infrastructure project pipeline would set Cape Town up as “a beacon of hope in South Africa and beyond”.

“In Cape Town, it is critical that we invest in our infrastructure at a faster rate than our population is growing, to address backlogs and prepare for the future.

“I have no doubt that Cape Town at double its size can be an even greater city than it is today, provided we do the right things now.”

The report was “clear and honest about the city’s past shortcomings and made no attempt to hide them”.

Key economic growth challenges that the R120bn infrastructure portfolio aims to address include upgraded wastewater works and sewers to reduce spills and ensure a healthy and dignified environment and the delivery of 300 million litres from new water sources daily.

In water and sanitation, the report pointed to major capacity upgrades at Potsdam, Zandvliet, Athlone, Macassar and the refurbishing of the Bellville wastewater works.

It said more than R3bn had been approved over the current three-year budget cycle. Of this, R860 million was for major upgrades to the Cape Flats, Milnerton, Philippi and Gordon’s Bay bulk sewers.

Regarding human settlements, Cape Town had 7.5 million square metres of land in the housing project pipeline and a further 4.7million square metres reserved for housing.

The report said the future of affordable housing delivery would not be in the free housing space or delivered by the state, but instead it would be about enabling the state.

“To make any meaningful dent in housing demand in our cities, we need to reposition the state as an enabler of housing by unlocking micro-developers, social housing companies and private sector delivery.”

With regard to transport issues, the report said: “With passenger rail having collapsed to a point of only serving 2% of all commuters, it is of highest importance that rail is devolved to the City and backed with the necessary budgets and private sector investment to resurrect this critical infrastructure.”

It said about R6.4bn had been approved for transport and roads infrastructure over three years, with more than R600m in the current financial year going to the major MyCiTi southeast expansion to link Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain to Claremont and Wynberg.

The report said metro road reconstruction projects in the coming years would be aimed at addressing the R450m in backlogs noted in the transport sector plan.

The top five projects in terms of planned spending on rehabilitation are Broadlands Drive, Jakes Gerwel Drive, and roads in Simon’s Town, Delft and Swartklip.

The congestion relief programme includes 14 projects, six of which relate to new infrastructure builds, while the remaining eight are expansions of existing infrastructure.

City manager Lungelo Mbandazayo said the report was the culmination of years of work that he had driven and overseen personally. He said long-term planning and pipelines included in the report would allow the City to identify synergies between directorates to save costs down the line.

The report has has been hailed by property developers as arguably the most honest and to-the-point report released to date.

Western Cape Property Development Forum (WCPDF) chairperson Deon van Zyl said: “For the first time, coming from within the City of Cape Town, there appears to be a sense of urgency. This is a new voice and one that we have not heard before.”

Van Zyl said the WCPDF was encouraged by the messages delivered by the mayor and City manager.

He said he had noted the challenges that they have set for themselves and would be observing the process of capital spend.

Van Zyl said the WCPDF would offer its support and inputs to the City to assist in unblocking the project implementation pipeline, in particular procurement, which they had been highlighting for some time now.