The City of Cape Town has set a South African record for the largest single-year infrastructure investment, totalling R9.4 billion based on verified data for the 2023/24 financial year ending 30 June this year.
In an address to the City Council on 22 August, mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis announced the city's top-performing directorates for capital expenditure.
In total, a full 94% of the city's infrastructure budget was spent or contractually committed for 2023/24.
Mayor Hill-Lewis announced the city's Energy Directorate (R1,1bn or 94,25% of budget spent) as the top performer in the 'Billion Club' of directorates with infrastructure budgets over R1 billion.
The two other directorates in this category also performed impressively, with Water and Sanitation spending R3,3 billion (93% of budget spent or committed), and Urban Mobility spending R1.5 billion (92% spent or committed).
Other top performers included Safety and Security (99.2% spent, R444 million), Human Settlements (98% spent, R960 million), and Corporate Services (96%, R655 million).
"This is not only a City of Cape Town record, but also a South African record infrastructure investment. To achieve these numbers in a responsible manner requires an extraordinary effort right across the entire Team Cape Town, and we are just getting started.
"At a combined R39.5 billion for the next three years, our infrastructure budget is 80% bigger than the next biggest city – Johannesburg – and almost 100% bigger than the third biggest, Durban. The vast bulk of this spend – a full 75% – is earmarked for projects that will directly benefit our metro's lower income households."
And while the obvious benefit will be the improved sanitation, better water security, better energy security, expanded public transport, thousands more affordable housing opportunities, safer communities and cleaner public places and waterways, the mayor said that there is also an important jobs benefit to this investment.
"We estimate that just the construction industry jobs alone resulting from this three-year R39.5 billion infrastructure spend will be in the region of 130,000. That's a huge employment boost for our city," said mayor Hill-Lewis.
The mayor further called on the National Treasury to increase Cape Town's conditional grant and equitable share funding in line with the city's growing population.
The city estimates that for every additional R100 million in national funding received, a further R800 million can be leveraged in infrastructure loan financing where needed, given the city's strong financial position and improved credit rating.
"The census clearly shows major growth in Cape Town, which is set to become SA's largest city. We continue to engage in correspondence with National Treasury, expressing the urgency of bringing our allocation of grants – particularly housing grants – as well as our equitable share in line with the latest census data," said Hill-Lewis.
Comments