R1bn scheme for BCM infrastructure unveiled

‘WE are not elected to whinge’ – Executive Mayor Zintle Peter

By Tom Mapham and Roux Van Zyl

BUFFALO City Municipality has unveiled a detailed R1 billion infrastructure investment scheme to turbocharge its new long-term strategy of pulling the region into the global economy.
The investment was kick-started with a R250m loan from the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) and is expected to take a huge chunk out of the municipality’s infrastructure backlog of R1, 9bn.
Infrastructure woes have been threatening to hamper the positive economic growth flowing into the municipal region that saw a record amount of building plans – amounting to just over R1bn – passed last year.
These include unplanned power cuts which have in the past six months brought East London’s city centre to a standstill several times, while in some areas building plans were not approved because sewerage services cannot meet any additional demand.
Addressing a conference at the launch of the municipality’s first-ever City Development Strategy (CDS) yesterday, Executive Mayor Zintle Peter acknowledged that infrastructure challenges were hampering growth in the region.
“(But) we were not elected to whinge – that is the prerogative of those voices who prefer the role of perennial doomsayers,” she said.
The new CDS aims to tackle these challenges by focusing resources on the four urban centres in the region – East London, Mdantsane, King William’s Town and Bhisho.
For instance, R300m of the R1bn will be spent in Mdantsane alone and the three other centres will share the rest. “We cannot do it alone, we need the private sector and government departments to help realize our objectives,” Peter said at the signing of the loan agreement with the DBSA.
This loan had been allocated to water and sanitation infrastructure improvements and improving the municipal fleet of vehicles, including refuse removal trucks.
The terms of the loan vary, depending on where the money will be spent and the soonest repayment deadline is in eight years’ time while some amounts are payable over 20 years.
For projects that will benefit disadvantaged communities like Duncan Village, the fixed rate could be as low as five percent.
“We hope this is the beginning of a long partnership with the city,” said the DBSA regional manager for the Eastern Cape, Oupa Mokwena.
Municipal manager Gaster Sharpley said the money will be shared between upgrading existing infrastructure and extending services to new areas.
But according to the municipality’s new long-tern plan, it will focus investment on “places with the highest economic potential.”