Cape Town - The City of Cape Town’s R120 billion 10-year pipeline project is on track, the City’s latest annual infrastructure report confirms. This means the metro’s infrastructure investments are set to dwarf those of other cities.
According to the tabled 2023/24 capital budgets for South Africa’s metros, Cape Town will invest more in infrastructure than Johannesburg and Durban combined over the threeyear medium-term budget framework (23/24–25/26), with a 91,2% larger capital budget than Joburg (R43.2bn v R22.6bn) and a 116.9% larger budget than eThekwini (R19.9bn).
Water and sanitation investments now make up 42% of Cape Town’s R120 billion 10-year pipeline project, with multi-billion-rand upgrades to seven wastewater works on track.
Launching the report, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said: “We are future-proofing our city by investing in infrastructure at a rate far outpacing any other metro.
“In fact, over the next three years we will invest R43bn, which is more than Joburg and Durban combined.
“In fact, Nedbank’s updated Capital Expenditure Project Listing for 2023, also released this week, finds that Cape Town accounts for a full 60% of the R100 billion in overall government infrastructure projects announced last year.”
He said Cape Town was about to pass Johannesburg as South Africa’s most populous metro.
“With the census confirming, we will soon be a city of five million. Our metro is also increasingly at the heart of national economic growth, adding over 200 000 jobs in the last year, which is more than South Africa’s other metros combined.
“The city’s infrastructure investments will further create an estimated 135 000 jobs over three years, based only on the initial investment, excluding downstream economic benefits. This is aside from the greater personal and community dignity that comes with improved infrastructure,” said Hill-Lewis.