Joburg needs R221bn to fix collapsing infrastructure

Johannesburg, billed as Africa’s richest city because of its concentration of businesses and millionaires, needs R221 billion to catch up on maintenance and overdue upgrades across its collapsing road, power and water networks.The city council discussed the shortfall late last month and detailed it in documents seen by Bloomberg. It comes at a time when regular power outages — the result of distribution-network breakdowns — hit large swathes of the city. Officials leave potholes unattended for months and parts of the city had no water for as long as 11 days in March.The work pile-up "highlights significant risks to public safety, economic safety and the environment if not addressed," the city said of the road network in the documents. "Ignoring the backlog could lead to deteriorating roads, unsafe bridges, flooding and increased accidents."Shifting tidesFinancial and political turmoil in recent years has beset the city of about five million people that’s had eight mayors since 2019 due to constantly shifting coalitions. While the African National Congress (ANC) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) are the largest parties in the ruling coalition with 119 seats between them, they have installed a mayor from the Al Jama-ah party, which has just three seats. There are 270 councillors in total.That’s in contrast to the national government, where the ANC, which lost its majority in the May elections for the first time in three decades, has allied with the Democratic Alliance (DA) and a number of other parties to run the country. The EFF is in opposition.LoansLast month, Johannesburg’s council imposed above-inflation increases for utilities and rates and forced through a R2.5 billion loan from the French Development Agency despite initial objections from opposition parties.The City of Johannesburg didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.The documents show that the city has missed its annual target for water-infrastructure investment every year since at least 2008 and that its electricity utility, City Power, has "urgent needs for upgrades and replacement to ensure network reliability and safety".A separate document, dated 6 March, shows that the city is struggling with revenue collection from large customers, including government departments and companies, with R6.1 billion of payments more than 90 days overdue.- Bloomberg

Joburg needs R221bn to fix collapsing infrastructure

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