24-03-2014: City of Joburg commits R40 billion to service delivery
Joburg is in a good financial state despite the impact of the economic downturn Around the globe, the economic downturn continues to have a negative impact on emerging and developed economies alike, creating ongoing challenges for economic growth and development, including here in South Africa and on the African continent as a whole. But for the City of Joburg, work continues at a pace to implement the progressive Joburg 2040 strategy, the roadmap for the creation of a resilient, sustainable and liveable city for the future.
Joburg is not only delivering on its mandate of service delivery to its residents and stakeholders, but it is also financially healthy and stable, with a good credit rating and supported by good financial governance. Every year, the City commits significant resources to support service delivery and the sheer magnitude of these figures indicates Johannesburg’s commitment to high quality service delivery and confidence in its future as a leading metropolitan municipality. In 2012/13, R31.9 billion was committed to service delivery programmes in Joburg (R27.6 billion opex and R4.3 billion capex).
In 2013/14, this increased and exceeded R40 billion, consisting of an operational budget of R36.3 billion, while R7.5 billion was allocated towards capital expenditure. Johannesburg became the first municipality in South Africa to pass a multi-year capital budget of R30.1 billion.
A key focus of the City of Joburg’s approach has been on providing its residents with a high quality of life and access to economic opportunities, supported by the necessary socio-economic infrastructure, transport, telecommunications and associated infrastructure services. In terms of this infrastructure investment, the City’s capital expenditure for the 2012/13 financial year was R4.3 billion, biased towards water, electricity, roads and transportation infrastructure services. Approximately R1. 2 billion was spent on essential maintenance, upgrades and new infrastructure to enhance service delivery, for example, the replacement of near redundant pipelines, public lighting, and the upgrading of electrical networks.
Gravel roads were also upgraded to surfaced standards in Diepsloot, Ivory Park, Braamfischerville and Orange Farm, and open storm water drains were converted into underground systems in Diepsloot, Ivory Park, Alexandra and Orange Farm.
The City of Joburg has made great strides over the past year in pursuit of its goal to create a resilient, sustainable and liveable city, taking informal settlements to sustainable human settlements. In the 2012/13 financial year, 3470 mixed housing opportunities were created.
The City is also positively responding to the housing challenge through a commitment to reshaping the urban spatial form by committing R100 billion towards infrastructure development to construct a future city based on liveability, sustainability, and spatial equity. At the core of this approach is the City’s ‘Corridors of Freedom’ initiative, representing a spatial incentive for knitting the urban form together and facilitating the mass transit of people and goods along corridors that strengthen the connectedness of different parts of the city.
The past year also further confirmed Johannesburg’s position as a leading South African metropolitan city, with more people than ever before, accessing key basic services, such as water and sanitation, electricity and waste removal. The quality of the City’s drinking water was maintained at 99.9% against the South African National Standard (SANS) 241.
The City’s final treated effluent was maintained at 95.2% of industry standards, as set by the Department of Water Affairs. In 2012/13 we provided more than 3 000 new households with first-time connectivity to electricity. In terms of providing efficient and affordable mobility for residents, the City of Joburg recorded on average 35,953 commuters traveling on the City’s world-class public transport system, Rea Vaya. Metrobus carried over 16 million passengers, reflecting the continual improvements to the City’s public transport system.
The City of Joburg is demonstrating that it is not only delivering on its mandate of service delivery to its residents and stakeholders, and at the same time implementing a highly progressive and ambitious vision for the future, but it is also financially healthy and stable, reflecting its status as a leading, responsible, metropolitan municipality.
ENDS
Nthatisi Modingoane
Deputy Director Communications
City of Johannesburg
nthatisem@joburg.org.za
Issued on behalf of City of Joburg:
Jean Robertson
Vuma Reputation Management
jean@vumereputation.com
