State of the City: Capital budget just short of R4-b
The mayor of Ekurhuleni, Clr Mondli Gungubele, outlined some of the city's successes and highlighted plans to improve youth economic development, job creation and service delivery, during his State of the City Address (SoCA), on Wednesday.
Gungubele emphasised that long term investment is essential for the city.
“In this regard, our capital budget has increased almost twofold in the past four years,” he said.
”In the 2011/12 financial year it was R2.2-billion, and this financial year we are sitting at R3.8-b.
“Furthermore, I am proud to announce that the city will be investing R12-b over the Medium Term Revenue and Expenditure Framework period.
“A total of R3.6-b has been allocated for urban restructuring, R4.8-b for upgrading and renewal and R3.6-b for economic development.
“We will be intensifying infrastructure investments to reduce backlogs and address additional infrastructure requirements for new investments,” he said.
Regarding the hot topic of energy, the mayor said that the present power situation is not good for the economy of the country, especially for a city like Ekurhuleni, which thrives on manufacturing.
“On our part, our energy department continues with relief efforts – having already installed 138 518 energy efficient lights in all council buildings – saving the city R11.2-million per year.
“We are also forging ahead with the programme of looking for alternative sources of power, as per the mandate of the provincial government in its efforts to reduce the pressure on the national grid.
“In the area of water, Gungubele raised an alarm that the city is still among the main contributors to the country’s water loss woes of R7-b a year.
“Ekurhuleni’s efforts to deal with water losses are thus being accelerated. To date we have been able to deal with leaks on 10 551 properties belonging to indigent families, and our target is to reach 43 000 properties by December.”
The mayor said that, in pursuit of the metro’s vision of a delivering city, the Siyakhokha Siyathuthuka programme for the coming year will include the implementation of a smart grid for electricity and water, to enhance communication between the city and citizens.
This will increase the number of users that are on an automatic smart metering system, assist with electricity demand management on a larger scale, and help ratepayers in managing their consumption, as the information will be in real time.
“We further believe that this innovation will go a long way in curbing electricity theft,” he added.
Gungubele highlighted that, in order to become a developmental city, there is a two-pronged strategy that focuses on network stabilisation and modernisation.
“In the area of modernisation, the city’s fibre and Wifi expansion plans have been defined and are being rolled out over a period of three years – from 2015 until 2017,” he said.
”Loosely translated, all our people will enjoy the availability of free Wifi by 2017.”
Under the aerotropolis development programme, Gungubele mentioned that, to date, approximately R789-m has been invested in a number of projects along the Albertina Sisulu Corridor, creating at least 1 506 jobs.
“Another mega project along the (R21) Albertina Sisulu corridor is the M-T Development, a mixed-use development which involves 21 industrial parks, medium density residential dwelling units, mixed land-use, offices, warehousing and distribution and educational facilities.
“This project is estimated at R50-b over 15 years.”
The mayor, highlighting investment, said that in addition to the identification of over 107 investment projects across Ekurhuleni, through a process of strategic prioritisation, 21 catalytic and eight strategic projects for implementation and investment over the next five years have been identified.
“In order to realise these investment opportunities, council has approved a 40 per cent rebate facility on bulk contributions for roads, which was a major stumbling block for strategic developments and investments into the city,” he explained.
”This is but one intervention as we continue to package a bouquet of incentives to attract more investment.”
In terms of job creation, the municipality has resolved to combat unemployment and eradicate poverty within Ekurhuleni by establishing strategic working relationships with social partners such as business, organised labour, civil society and other spheres of government, state owned companies and state owned entities.
To address empowering the youth economically, Gungubele said that, with effect from July 1, the Ekurhuleni Community Empowerment Package will come into effect: “A total of R2.9-b of procurement value shall be ring-fenced for pre-qualified businesses owned by the youth, women and people with disabilities, black industrialists and community job creation initiatives.”
The mayor said that the strategic objectives of the Ekurhuleni Youth Empowerment Packages are to confront and combat the high levels of structural unemployment and create a black-owned cadreship of emerging farmers, entrepreneurs, producers, suppliers and enterprises.
Environmentally, the metro is still striving towards becoming a mecca of water sports, hospitality, tourism and leisure.
“We must see economic activity boom around the city’s water bodies so that they can also assist in our quest to create jobs and fight poverty,” Gungubele said.
“We have concluded that if we are to succeed in promoting the idea of intensifying investment and development around the lakes and dams, we must get the aesthetics right.” – @NalediBoksburg
