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The government has budgeted close to R50 billion to build its mega cities.
This is according to Gauteng MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Human Settlements MEC Paul Mashatile who was speaking to media ahead of the infrastructure investment summit on Thursday.
Mashatile added that he would use the summit to invite the private sector to invest and that the Gauteng Partnership Fund would be the implementing agency of the mega projects.
“In the mega cities we are encouraging the development of small-medium enterprises and the growth of township economy. We also want the creation of local employment.
“In the mega cities we provide not only houses but other critical infrastructure such as schools, clinics and hospitals but also commercial infrastructure like retail outlets and shopping centres.
“We are also looking forward to the development of light industries so that people are able to get employment opportunities in the same space they live in.
“The summit is bringing all the leaders of these sectors together to be able to look at how all of us can partner to be able to deliver these products,” he said.
The MEC added that the mega projects “were in all the corridors of Gauteng which are Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Sedibeng, West Rand and the central corridor, which is Johannesburg, and the information about them will be unpacked on Thursday”.
Mashatile said the ultimate plan was to move away from “small sporadic RDP projects” and to bring in critical infrastructure such as energy, power stations and transportation.
“Almost 31 mega projects are already in the planning stage some of them ready for implementation,” he said.
There are also plans to extend the Gautrain service, building new roads and the government’s desire to change apartheid’s spatial planning.
“[We want to] bring more people to inner cities and well-located land with opportunities … and in the process change the landscape and make sure that people of various incomes live together in one place whether in a rented, bonded or RDP houses,” Mashatile said.
