The Department of Development Planning Corporate Geo-Informatics (CGIS) directorate has launched an online GIS Revenue Enhancement Viewer to optimise billing-related issues and allow the City of Johannesburg to maximise its revenue generation efforts.
It forms part of the City’s greater Online Maps Viewer system that allow City officials to see billing-related data for each property to check whether municipal services provided to each property match the billing data available.
This is the first city-developed tool of this kind, with several new and enhanced features to make visual and spatial identification of billing anomalies identifiable. This is as a result of inter-departmental efforts by several City departments and municipal entities, which have worked together with the aim of integrating the various functions of the City to improve service delivery.
The Member of the Mayoral Committee for Development Planning in the City of Johannesburg, Cllr Belinda Echeozonjoku, said the new tool will help the City get things right the first time and resolve some of the billing problems experienced.
“This new feature will allow officials to not only clampdown on properties not paying their services but also gives an opportunity for the different departments and entities to share crucial information. This will cut the current red tape and make the work of the City more efficient,” said Cllr Echeozonjoku.
The color-coding for services per property on the systems map make it simple to identify and inspect any properties that, for any reason, do not have one of these billable services. The revenue theme also offers insight into various data anomalies relating to land information that have been captured into exception reports which are now visually and spatially represented.
Each property in the City of Johannesburg should be billed separately for five services, such as:
• Property rates
• water
• Electricity
• Sanitation
• Refuse
Cllr Echeozonjoku said the City was committed to finding solutions to strengthen its financial position to improve service delivery for the city residents. It also recognised the importance of moving digital as it relates to the accessibly of our services
“The City is always looking at different initiatives that will assist our officials to provide services in a more efficient manner. This initiative by the department is one such, and we are proud of the department for finding different ways to assist the city as well as our residents. This is a step forward in moving towards being digitally driven and becoming a ‘smart city’,” said Cllr Echeozonjoku.
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Media enquiries:
Loyiso Tunce
Deputy Director: Communication & Stakeholder Management
Office of the MMC Development Planning
LoyisoTu@joburg.org.za
060 567 2483
08/07/2022
