Cape 'can't keep up' with urban development

The City of Cape Town is struggling to keep up with the fast pace of development and this is putting a strain on outdated or poorly maintained infrastructure such as roads and sewerage services.

"We can't keep up with developments because they are happening faster than the city can build," mayoral committee member for roads, transport and stormwater, Elizabeth Thompson, said at Wednesday's mayoral committee meeting.

She said the city could "never keep up" with the need for road maintenance because of budgetary constraints.

'Even if we increase the rates by one or two percent it would only be a drop in the ocean'

Thompson said the city would lobby the National Treasury to ring-fence funding for roads maintenance for all municipalities,"even if it comes from fuel levies".

She said it would cost R575-million a year for the city to maintain its 10 000km of roads and a further R1,9-billion to deal with the maintenance backlog.

"I am not sure where we will get the money. Even if we increase the rates by one or two percent it would only be a drop in the ocean."

Mayoral committee member for finance Ian Neilson said the city had only R125-million for maintenance. He said the transport budget had to be looked at "very seriously" as R450-million would be outstanding. Neilson said rates would have to be increased by about 15 percent to make up the shortfall.

The council roads and stormwater department commissioned a pilot study on the impact of densification on the city's stormwater, water and sewerage infrastructure.

'We can't densify if we can't afford it'

Table View, Boston and Strand were studied as part of the pilot project.

The study found that the three areas combined had 27 400 units more than had been approved by the zoning rights. It would cost R48,3-million to upgrade the water system in accordance with the needs of the communities living in the areas, R25,9-million to upgrade the sewer network and R85,5-million to improve the stormwater infrastructure.

The consultants said that public or private spaces should be carefully considered before they were used for densification.

"To adequately investigate the feasibility of densification, the status and impacts on the water services cannot be addressed in isolation.

"The status and impacts on the other services like roads and electricity should also be addressed."

The report recommended that a second study, including the cost implications of the required infrastructure, be carried out.

Mayoral committee member for planning Marian Nieuwoudt said densification could not be done on an "ad hoc" basis as was the practice now.

"We can't densify if we can't afford it."

A working group comprising representatives from various directorates is to investigate all aspects of the impact of densification on the city's infrastructure. - Cape Times

- Pic: Rising Tide - Jan Baker