The City of Johannesburg says it will need R154bn to deal with the current road infrastructure backlog with the city's traffic lights needing close to R37m to address.
The City spokesperson, Nthatisi Modingoane, said the backlog emanated from democratic transitional changes that took place in 1994.
“Seven former municipalities from the apartheid era were combined to become the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality [CoJMM] and the new municipality planned to use municipal charges to pay for infrastructure improvements. The need to fulfil socioeconomic, health, and housing demands, however, outweighed the income, which resulted in inadequate investment in the management and upkeep of the infrastructure,” said Modingoane.
He said that areas including water and sanitation, electrical distribution, highways, bridges, and stormwater management were particularly affected by this underinvestment.
The R154bn would be divided to attend to Class 3-4 roads which needed R10.4bn and Class 5-6 roads with an estimated to R27bn cost.
The cost for bridges is estimated at R16bn while sidewalk infrastructure is R2bn. Catchments, dams and stormwater infrastructure have a backlog of R61.2bn. .
Modingoane said the city’s capital budget of R7.6bn for 2023/24 with a three-year capital of R24.4bn does cater for these backlogs.
“The backlog has been catered for in the city’s budget, as captured in the individual sector IDP programmes and related projects per sector but must be noted that some of the repairs and maintenance of infrastructure is captured in the city’s operations budget, depending on whether the renewal, repair or replacement of an asset is required,” said Modingoane.
The city’s capital budget is funded using different sources which comprise borrowings grants and internally generated cash.
“The city borrows from commercial banks, development finance institutions, or the domestic capital market, but is limited to 45% of revenue as per MFMA (Municipal Finance Management) Circular 71. Currently, at 33%, the city is exploring alternative funding mechanisms to ensure unfunded mandates are funded,” said Modingoane.
City Power has a backlog of R33.5bn mainly for substations while Joburg Water has a total backlog of R24bn, which was broken down to water mains replacement needing close to R.3bn and sewer mains replacement close to R3.4bn in backlog.
“The city is enhancing long-term infrastructure planning and investment by developing and institutionalising plans. The city is preparing to develop a 40-year Strategic Infrastructure Asset Management Plan (SIAMP) and a 10-year Capital Expenditure Framework (CEF) to address infrastructure backlogs,” said Modingoane.
He said that businesses and residents alike were directly affected by the deterioration of infrastructure.
A 40-year plan and a 10-year and capital expenditure framework is underway to address challenges
Joburg needs R154bn to address road infrastructure backlog
Image: Thulani Mbele
The City of Johannesburg says it will need R154bn to deal with the current road infrastructure backlog with the city's traffic lights needing close to R37m to address.
The City spokesperson, Nthatisi Modingoane, said the backlog emanated from democratic transitional changes that took place in 1994.
“Seven former municipalities from the apartheid era were combined to become the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality [CoJMM] and the new municipality planned to use municipal charges to pay for infrastructure improvements. The need to fulfil socioeconomic, health, and housing demands, however, outweighed the income, which resulted in inadequate investment in the management and upkeep of the infrastructure,” said Modingoane.
He said that areas including water and sanitation, electrical distribution, highways, bridges, and stormwater management were particularly affected by this underinvestment.
The R154bn would be divided to attend to Class 3-4 roads which needed R10.4bn and Class 5-6 roads with an estimated to R27bn cost.
The cost for bridges is estimated at R16bn while sidewalk infrastructure is R2bn. Catchments, dams and stormwater infrastructure have a backlog of R61.2bn. .
Modingoane said the city’s capital budget of R7.6bn for 2023/24 with a three-year capital of R24.4bn does cater for these backlogs.
“The backlog has been catered for in the city’s budget, as captured in the individual sector IDP programmes and related projects per sector but must be noted that some of the repairs and maintenance of infrastructure is captured in the city’s operations budget, depending on whether the renewal, repair or replacement of an asset is required,” said Modingoane.
The city’s capital budget is funded using different sources which comprise borrowings grants and internally generated cash.
“The city borrows from commercial banks, development finance institutions, or the domestic capital market, but is limited to 45% of revenue as per MFMA (Municipal Finance Management) Circular 71. Currently, at 33%, the city is exploring alternative funding mechanisms to ensure unfunded mandates are funded,” said Modingoane.
City Power has a backlog of R33.5bn mainly for substations while Joburg Water has a total backlog of R24bn, which was broken down to water mains replacement needing close to R.3bn and sewer mains replacement close to R3.4bn in backlog.
“The city is enhancing long-term infrastructure planning and investment by developing and institutionalising plans. The city is preparing to develop a 40-year Strategic Infrastructure Asset Management Plan (SIAMP) and a 10-year Capital Expenditure Framework (CEF) to address infrastructure backlogs,” said Modingoane.
He said that businesses and residents alike were directly affected by the deterioration of infrastructure.
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