City’s Annual Report for 2009/10 shows infrastructure-led growth

City of Cape Town’s Annual Report for the 2009/2010 financial year is a clear indicator of its strategy to promote infrastructure-led economic growth in Cape Town. This type of development is crucial for the City to realise its full potential and generate financial, economic, and employment benefits for all residents.

This year City Directorates remained as focused and committed as ever to working together to deliver services and infrastructure to Cape Town and its people, despite the added workload and significant budgetary constraints resulting from the preparations to host one of the largest sporting events in the world – the 2010 FIFA World Cup™,” said the City Manager, Achmat Ebrahim.

The responses to the City’s regular community satisfaction surveys of 3 000 residents and 701 businesses show that overall perceptions of performance have improved significantly over the past three years. This perception is borne out by the results in the Annual Report – a document which provides residents and stakeholders with feedback on the City’s achievements against the objectives set out in the 2009/10 Integrated Development Plan.

The latest Annual Report shows that the City is on firm financial ground, with its seventh consecutive unqualified audit from the Auditor General and the receipt of the highest rating of all metropolitan municipalities analysed by independent credit ratings agency, Moody’s.

For the fifth consecutive year, the City managed to maintain its positive long-term credit rating of Aa2.za with a stable outlook from Moody’s. This prized rating provides investors and residents with confidence in the financial leadership and management of the municipality. Moody’s also gave the City a short-term issuer rating of Prime-1.za. This means that investors are of the opinion that the City has the ability to honour unsecured financial contracts and obligations.

The City collected 95.17% of billing as revenue during the financial year. On the other side of the spectrum, the City handled its budget well, spending 109.07% of the training budget, 83% of the capital budget and 97.4% of the operating budget.

“The strategy of infrastructure-led economic growth was demonstrated by many legacy projects throughout the city. The most significant of these was the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ which ran from 11 June to 11 July 2010. The highlight of the tournament was the sense of ‘gees’ and unity among all Capetonians, especially the ‘vibe’ created by the thousands of fans who opted to use the City’s fan walk as a route to the Cape Town Stadium for matches. The tournament was a great success, but the real value of the event is still being unlocked and will continue to reflect for decades to come,” said the City’s Executive Mayor, Alderman Dan Plato.

The preparation as Host City saw a R12.4 billion investment in infrastructure improvements across Cape Town. This includes:

• Cape Town Stadium – R4.4 billion

• Roads and bridges in the CBD – R298 million

• Green Point Urban Park – R576 million

• Inner-city transport in the form of MyCiTi infrastructure – R42 million

• Infrastructure development in the CBD – R590 million

• Local roads and sports complexes – R513 million

• Upgrades to major roads in the CBD – R1.8 billion

• General public transport infrastructure – R4.2 billion

Another infrastructural benefit came with the implementation of portions of Phase 1A of the MyCiTi/IRT system in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.

Two services were launched during the financial year, namely the Airport Shuttle (link between the Cape Town International Airport and the Civic Centre) and the interim inner-city service (a loop running through the inner city for the duration of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™).

The implementation of the service saw multiple road and intersection upgrades and provided transport support services which were crucial to the successful hosting of the tournament. The MyCiTi/IRT service will continue to be rolled out over the next two decades, and will serve to reduce congestion and cut overall carbon emissions.

This part of the rollout, the City launched the state-of-the-art Transport Management Centre (TMC). The TMC is the first integrated public transport, traffic and safety and security management centre in the country, and one of the first of its kind in the world. Transport operations throughout the tournament were managed from this hi-tech central hub.

Other developments on the transport front include the opening of two new vehicle registration and licensing offices (in Milnerton and Parow) and the installation of Variable Message Signage boards on major highways to provide motorists with regular traffic updates.

The Annual Report also reflects on the following key areas:

Economy and Job Creation

• Despite the global economic crisis, the City created 8 246 direct permanent job opportunities and 12 236 temporary job opportunities.

• A total of R1.716 billion worth of direct investment in Cape Town was secured.

• 95% of land use management applications and 113% of building development management applications were finalised within the agreed time frames.

• The City purchased 57.96% (by rand value) of the products and services it needed from Small, Medium and Micro-sized enterprises and Black Economic Empowerment businesses.

Service Delivery

• The City provided 100% of formal households with access to basic water and sanitation services and 92.18% with access to electricity.

• 87% of informal households receive access to water; 77% receive sanitation services; 72.87% receive access to electricity;

• Of all known households in Cape Town, 99% receive basic levels of solid waste removal.

• A total of R1.56 billion was spent on repairs and maintenance

• The City was awarded the Blue Drop Award for its drinking water quality and received eight Green Drop certificates for management of its wastewater treatment plants.

• There was a 26.8% reduction in unconstrained water demand.

• The City managed to save 19.77% of its landfill airspace, in relation to the volume of waste disposed – a 3.83% improvement on the previous year’s figure. This illustrates that the Integrated Waste Management By-Law is showing a positive impact.

• The number of electricity outages were reduced and R516 million was spent on upgrading the City’s electricity network, with another R623 million earmarked for continued maintenance in the coming financial year.

• R786 million was invested in upgrades to water and sanitation infrastructure.

• On average, one tap has been provided for every 12.56 households, which is well above the national standard of one tap per 25 households.

• Another 6 656 toilets were installed in informal settlements, which means the City has caught up on its historic backlog.

The period saw a pilot project for water-wise toilets in Pooke se Bos informal settlement in Athlone. The Dutch government selected Cape Town as pilot site for the new MobiSan toilet – an easily installed alternative to traditional toilets which uses almost no water, and does not have to be connected to a main water supply or sewerage system.

The City also turned to technology to address water losses with the automated meter-reading trial project. Automated meter-reading delivers improved and accurate billing and does away with the need for estimated consumption. It also has a secondary benefit of reducing losses through prompt detection of irregular water consumption patterns and leaks. This system will ensure significant savings for the City.

Sustainability

More than 100 projects across 51 programme areas are aimed at making Cape Town a more sustainable city.

• The City has reduced its energy consumption by 6.77%.

• A third of traffic lights (400 out of 1 200 intersections) have been retrofitted with energy efficient LEDs.

• As of June 2010, 40 000 out of 300 000 public streetlights have been fitted with energy-efficient high-pressure sodium lamps.

• Four City-owned administrative buildings have been retrofitted with energy efficient equipment.

The City launched Africa’s first Clean Development Mechanism project in Kuyasa informal settlement. This pioneering project made households in 2 333 households in Kuyasa more energy efficient through the installation of solar water heaters and energy efficient lighting and ceilings.

Housing

• The City provided 8 950 housing opportunities and acquired more land for longer-term development.

• Some 320 rental units were completed and the City embarked on its Community Residential Unit upgrade project, to refurbish and repair its rental units throughout the city.

• Over 1040 erven were upgraded and serviced as part of the informal settlements upgrade programme.

• The City built 90 affordable GAP units and sold 100 serviced plots at discounted prices.

Safety and Security

• The rate of accidents at high-frequency locations was reduced by 14%.

• The Safety and Security Directorate increased its arrests for drug-related crimes by 26%.

• The comprehensive Disaster Management Plan during the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ proved successful, with no major incidents reported throughout the tournament.

• All illegal land invasions were combated.

• City Emergency Services attended to around 3 700 incidents per month, of which 1 250 were fires.

• The Disaster Risk Management Centre launched a ‘Protect Yourself Against Floods’ campaign in 20 high-risk informal settlements in preparation for winter flooding.

Health

• The City adopted the new Air Quality By-Law which goes even further to protect Cape Town’s air quality through legislation and the stipulation of punishable offences.

• The rate of increase of Tuberculosis (TB) was slowed to 821 per 100 000 residents.

• The prevalence of antenatal Human-Immuno Virus (HIV) was reduced to 14.1%.

• Cape Town’s infant mortality rate rose slightly to 20.76 out of every 1 000 births, which compares favourably with the national average of 60.

• The City opened its third Substance Abuse Treatment Centre, located at the Delft South Clinic.

• Over 400 street people were placed in rehabilitation and re-integration programmes.

• The City created and maintained 25 strategic sporting partnerships and events, such as the Pick n Pay Cape Argus Cycle Tour.

Information Technology

• The City is arguable the leading local government in the field of Information Technology in South Africa.

• A total of 12 000 personal computers enable City staff to process requests.

• The City’s Corporate Call Centre answered 926 253 calls in the caller’s language of choice – all of which were recorded. The City has to date installed 17 customer service hotlines in municipal buildings in outlying and impoverished areas, including housing offices, libraries and cash offices. This, in addition to the City’s ‘one number’ call centre, brings the Administration closer to customers, allowing staff to meet their needs.



The full annual report and summary is available online at www.capetown.gov.za/reports