Cape Town - Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has tabled the City’s “Building for Jobs Budget,” which will see investment in infrastructure multiply from R12.1 billion in the 24/25 financial year to nearly R40bn over the next three years.
Addressing the City Council yesterday, Hill-Lewis said the scale of Cape Town’s infrastructure spending — worth R120bn over 10 years — will far surpass other cities as the metro prepares to overtake Johannesburg as South Africa’s most populous.
Breaking down his Building for Jobs Budget, he said public transport will be improved over three years: R6.28bn will be used for the MyCiTi new route (Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, etc.), R668 million on MyCiti buses, R221m on MyCiti bus stops, and R176m to upgrade 65 public transport interchanges.
It also included R764m for repairs to streetlights in 24/25, R826m for road maintenance and pothole repairs in 24/25, R735m on road upgrades over three years, and R444m in congestion relief projects over three years.
Recreational facilities will see a facelift of R138m for sports facilities, R41m for swimming pools, R76m for community and recreational facilities, R149m for parks and public spaces, R120m in library upgrades, equipment, and books, R3.7bn in informal settlement upgrades over three years, R126m for new water, sanitation, and waste installations, R36m for electrification, R1bn in bulk services, serviced sites, roads, super-blocking, and emergency services, and R2.5bn for fully-subsidised free housing.
“Our mission is to make Cape Town work by investing, on an unprecedented scale, in the city’s infrastructure. Because when Cape Town works, Capetonians work.
“The City’s R39,7bn investment in infrastructure over the next three years will create around 130 000 jobs, purely based on construction alone,” said Hill-Lewis.
He said 75% of infrastructure spending would directly benefit lower-income households and their areas.
Responding to the mayor’s speech, EFF councillor Asanda Kwebulana said the City’s promises were only good on paper but never translate to reality.
“The EFF rejects this integrated development plan (IDP) in front of us; it doesn’t speak to the powers of the poor.
“All that the DA-led government is good at is on paper. Nothing reflects the groundwork that is mostly needed,” said Kwebulana.
The ANC’s Delmaine Cottee also used the opportunity to point out issues that the municipality is allegedly dragging its feet on, especially in poor communities.