7 minute read
BUILDING SMART
Plans for the development of the Lanseria Smart City are becoming more tangible, writes Trevor Crighton
The Master Planning Process for the rst new city to be built in South Africa since 1994 – Lanseria Smart City – is complete. The process was completed under the guidance of a project steering committee, convened by the Presidency and including all relevant local governments. “The master plan is key to designing a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for bulk infrastructure, through which a Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) loan will cover the costs of bulk and be recovered through claiming a percentage of the future service charges developers and residents will pay – rates, developer contributions, service charges, portions of grants and the like,” says Parks Tau, Gauteng MEC for Economic Development, Environment, Agriculture and Rural Development.
KEY CONSULTATION
In the course of concluding the master plan, consultative webinars have been held with property developers, large landowners and experts in waste, water and electricity infrastructure, roads and transport networks, human settlements, social infrastructure leads, and ICT experts, as well as various local community clusters.
“The project was presented at the Small Island Developing States Summit as an investible pipeline project and will now be gazetted as a systematic investment plan. The Gauteng Department of Economic Development has set aside funding and has commissioned a dedicated project management unit (PMU), via DBSA to drive the project,” says Tau.
SMART TECH
The component elements of the smart city are being conceptualised through private sector engagements and will now be driven through the Smart City Institute with the University of Johannesburg. These elements will include free basic broadband; sandboxing for smart governance using blockchain technology, internet of things and arti cial intelligence, as well as building support for a gig economy and digital economy workforce into all design elements.
FINDING FUNDING
The Lanseria Smart City PMU, announced in the rst quarter of 2022, is currently working with developer clusters to support a tradeable
key to designing a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for bulk infrastructure, through which a Development Bank of Parks Tau South Africa (DBSA) loan will cover the costs of bulk and be property rights regime to align with the master plan, which will also recovered through claiming a percentage of the future service support the establishment of a hi-tech special economic zone (SEZ). This support the establishment of a hi-tech special economic zone (SEZ). This will directly support clusters that contribute to green urban technology, communications technology and a research and development city cluster. The department will undertake roadshows over the next few months to introduce the project management team to developers, once appointed. As a key public sector initiative, the department is collaborating with the Government Technical Advisory Centre on a project development process to integrate various landholders who want to be part of the Lanseria Hi-Tech SEZ through the proposed real estate investment trust structure. “The total bulk infrastructure required for the project is estimated at R13.5-billion over the next 15 years and bundling the full costs of establishing wastewater treatment works, which serves a wider area, pushes the total to R14.5-billion,” says Tau. “The intent is to provide the bulk infrastructure for Lanseria through the establishment of a dedicated SPV under the Vumela mechanism via the DBSA, that will serve as the vehicle through which funding for the bulk infrastructure is raised. This will be done against future revenues owing from the new developments, which will bring the master plan to life, with provision of bulk matched to timing of development need.” Phase 1 roll out – the roll out of bulk infrastructure to support years 1 to 5 of the development pipeline – is expected to start in the third quarter of this year. Plans for the Lanseria Smart City – originally known as Cradle City – started in 2007 as an aerotropolis concept. The Lanseria region, which lies on the boundary of four di erent municipalities, has a large enough footprint to facilitate structured growth, avoiding urban sprawl. The development aims to create the rst post-apartheid city in South Africa based on “best practice” in urban sustainability and global smart city principles, with Lanseria Airport at its heart as the main economic driver. It is estimated that the project will take 25 years to complete. ▪
SMART BUILDING, SMART CONSUMPTION
Dr Andrew Dickson, engineering executive at CBI-electric: low voltage, shares that while our government works towards building new smart cities, South African citizens can start building their own smart cities at home by investing in smart home technologies
South Africans can start developing their own smart homes by investing in smart home technologies because smart homes will be a key component in the creation of smarter cities.
It is predicted that by 2050, nearly 70 per cent of people worldwide will reside in urban areas, up from 55 per cent of the global population who currently live in cities. As a result, 78 per cent of the world’s energy is being consumed in cities that produce more than 60 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions . This is set to increase following the speed and scale of urbanisation. To mitigate this impact, smart cities may provide a solution to reduce energy consumption while still meeting service demand, improving grid stability and overall quality of life.
In positive news, two years after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced his future plans to build the rst smart city in Lanseria, the draft master plan has been completed and is out for public comment. The city will house between 350 000 and 500 000 occupants within the next decade.
SMARTER CONSUMPTION
South African households consume roughly 17 per cent of the country’s total grid electrical energy and can account for up to 35 per cent of national electricity demand during peak periods . Installing smart home devices, which use an internet connection to enable the remote monitoring and management of appliances and systems such as lighting and heating, can help improve energy e ciency in the residential sector. This is because smart home devices not only enable users to keep an eye on how much electricity their appliances and systems consume, but also schedule them to turn on and o at speci c times on a daily or periodic basis to reduce consumption.
The need for these solutions is all the more pressing when one considers that a third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions are the result of household energy consumption . To put this in perspective, South Africa is the 14th largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world , with the average South African emitting approximately 7.41 tons of CO2 – nearly double that of the world average of 4.47 metric tons per person . These emissions result from everyday routines such as turning air conditioning systems on and o , however, home automation has been found to reduce emissions by 12.78 per cent – something which will be crucial for helping South Africa ful l its commitment to limit its annual greenhouse gas emissions to between 398 to 440 million tons of CO2 equivalent by 2030 . In the United Kingdom, for instance, the Nottingham City Council revealed that the city managed to reduce CO2 emissions by 26 per cent from 2005 levels using smart homes as one of the tactical solutions .
CITYWIDE BENEFITS
Smart homes also present cost-saving opportunities not just for those living within them, but also for the cities in which they are situated. By being able to remotely monitor their energy consumption, smart homeowners are able to save on their monthly electricity bills. But imagine what would happen if this concept was applied to a city-wide housing grid. This could enable local authorities to track energy usage and spikes across the community, ensuring fairer pricing as well as the ability to tackle outages, energy leaks and the environmental issues associated with overuse.
With 70 per cent of South Africans set to be living in urban areas by 2030 and the cities of Johannesburg, Tshwane, Cape Town and Ethekwini under pressure to accommodate everyone , now’s the time for investment in smart home technology. I envisage smart homes working together to bene t all citizens and positively impact our planet. ▪
