ciTY OF JOHannesBuRG
FEATuRE
Joburg
CITY OF
DEVELOPMENT PLAN T O ‘ C R E AT E J O B S ’
in March the City of Johannesburg tabled its integrated Development plan (iDp) and Flagship programmes for the next five years to the city council. it has been billed as a chance to “create decent employment opportunities” and “change things for the better”. By ian armitage
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t has been billed as a chance to “create decent employment opportunities” and “change things for the better” and to be honest we’ve got high hopes for it. What I’m talking about is the City of Johannesburg’s new Integrated Development Plan (IDP). It was launched in March and highlighted green projects and infrastructure upgrades as being critical to achieving the ‘Joburg 2040 Strategy’. The goal is to “tackle infrastructure pressures”. For Johannesburg’s executive mayor Mpho Parks Tau, who just under a year ago and a few days after he took office talked to South Africa Magazine, it is a major coup. What was clear when we talked to him then was that he was not afraid of a challenge and was determined to “change Joburg” for the better. He said that the city would “continue to revitalise itself, boost its energy, regenerate its lustre, retain its magnetism and incredible vibe” and added that it would “not be business as usual”. His goal was to transform Johannesburg into a “world class African city”. And with the new IDP, he is a step closer to realising that dream. “There are four main pillar on which we will build Johannesburg,” mayor Parks Tau said in his latest State of the City address. “Those pillars are human and social development, sustainable services, economic growth and governance.” Already this is having a positive impact and with the rollout of ‘smart meter’ technology - which will connect 230,000 customers over 18 months - things are about to get even better. At present around 95 percent of citizens have access to quality water, reliable electricity and decent sanitation. “We have transformed Joburg into a desirable destination for trade tourism and investment,” Parks Tau told us. “The task now is to build on its legacy and take the city to a higher level.”
There are four main pillar on which we will build Johannesburg. Those pillars are human and social development, sustainable services, economic growth and governance
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Smart meter technology has a number of benefits and will help the city improve its services. “We have listened to the people,” Parks Tau explained. “We want a system that is accurate, reduces disputes and increases customer satisfaction levels.” Coinciding with this is a plan to dispatch City Power technicians daily across the city to repair and replace damaged cables and take necessary corrective action. This will increase the network reliability and reduce power interruptions. In some areas where this has already been rolled out customer satisfaction levels have increased significantly. “We need to improve the performance,” Parks Tau told us last May. “The people of Johannesburg need value for money and we need to improve repairs and maintenance to the infrastructure.” Residents can soon expect to receive their billing statements by MMS following the launch of several new e-services which are meant to provide online access to a range of services for individuals and businesses in the greater Johannesburg area. This is expected to improve things “significantly”. Often mail gets lost in the post office or gets delivered to the wrong address and as a result the customer never receives his statement. MMS billing solves that. “We are always looking at how to improve,” Parks Tau said. In 2006 Johannesburg City council decided to move to a fullyfledge Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system called Rea Vaya and this too has been highlighted as important to the city’s future. 4
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The people of Johannesburg need value for money and we need to improve repairs and maintenance to the infrastructure
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A considerable chunk of the Phase 1B trunk route infrastructure and 17 bus stations is complete between Noordgesig and Parktown and the city’s focus now is on procuring ‘green’ buses and establishing a bus operating company for the affected operators. The procurement process for the 134 new buses would incentivise maximising local content and job creation, the city says. “It is a system that is benefiting commuters and industry, transforming the spatial landscape and reducing carbon emissions,” Darko Skribinsek managing director of FOT Consulting, one of the key players in the formation of Rea Vaya, told South Africa Magazine in 2011. “This all feeds into the city’s Growth and Development Strategy (GDS), aimed at addressing longerterm challenges facing the city such as urbanisation, climate change,
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sustainability, and poverty and unemployment,” he added. To complement ongoing work on the city’s BRT, work is also underway on redesigning the basic street template to include greater space for pedestrians, space for cyclists, improved traffic calming measures and new storm water approaches. Demonstration projects will be rolled out in Orange Farm and Kaalfontein, Parks Tau said in his latest State of the City address, before reiterating that Johannesburg is moving towards a green future in order reduce its carbon footprint and pollution, as 6
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well as to reduce waste. Parks Tau said the city will launch its waste-to-energy project as a public-private partnership to address the issue of decreasing space at landfills and to add to the its electricity grid. R2 billion has been earmarked for this investment and construction was expected to be complete by 2015. Further, Johannesburg Water is also upgrading the water infrastructure in Soweto as part of its rehabilitation programme. The R880 million Operation Gcin’amanzi is aimed at upgrading Soweto’s water infrastructure and is targeted to be complete in 2014.
Clearly, there is a lot going on and Parks Tau has made real progress since coming into office. The critics remain sceptical but it expected that over the next ten years things will further improve. “I am focused on ensuring improvement in the quality of services,” Parks Tau concluded in our last interview. “We are convinced the city has a clear roadmap for delivery – both in the immediate and short-term as well as in developing a process for long-term development.” The City of Johannesburg is poised for yet another exciting new chapter in its history, he said. END
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