Professionals in the multibillion-rand built environment industry have called for more collaboration with stakeholders including state-owned entities to support economic development and service delivery in local government.
The Black Business Council in the Built Industry (BBCBE) held a breakfast event at the Development Bank of Southern Africa in Midrand, Johannesburg, on Thursday.
The BBCBE, which falls under the Black Business Council, is an organisation of black construction and professional organisations in the country. Its stated objective is to engage the government and other statutory bodies to “influence the drafting and implementation of appropriate legislation in order to create an enabling environment for the black constituency in the building and construction industry”.
The breakfast event, dubbed business connect, comes after Johannesburg executive mayor Dada Morero told Business Day recently that his administration planned to raise R100bn in the next five years to fix water pipes, roads and power cables that lie in tatters.
Morero vowed to push capital expenditure (capex) past R10bn next year as he courts lenders to help plug the R100bn infrastructure backlog.
“I’ve interacted with the CEOs of Standard Bank, African Bank, Development Bank of Southern Africa and Nedbank. They have an interest in the future of this city. They have indicated their doors remain open about how they can help raise much-needed capital for the metro,” Morero said during the interview.
BBCBE president Danny Masimene said on Thursday: “Ours is to collaborate, our fiscus in the country is strained, grants to [state-owned] entities are compromised, they keep on decreasing, whereas on the other side demands keep increasing.
“We can’t be standing in the queues [for] tenders without contributing positively to the development of the country. We are a developing country, we still need to borrow money from outside to fix our water and electricity infrastructure.”
We can’t be standing in the queues [for] tenders without contributing positively to the development of the country. We are a developing country, we still need to borrow money from outside to fix our water and electricity infrastructure.
— Danny Masimene
BBCBE president
Masimene said the BBCBE realised it could do more if it collaborated with public entities, adding that access to finance remained a challenge that needed to be addressed.
“There are projects that need to be delivered to municipalities, but municipalities do not have money … we can do those projects as part of build, operate and transfer. This would ensure that those projects do not wait for 10 years when municipalities have money,” he said.
Morero has said the metro had traditionally funded its capex budget from a combination of grants from the national government, borrowings from capital markets as well as internally generated cash from operations.
“In recent years, the city has averaged about R7.5bn in its annual capex budget. Thus the city is prioritising the engineering services — electricity, water and sanitation, waste management and roads — using available resources within these three funding sources,” the mayor has said.
During the BBCBE event, one of the panel members spoke out against a lack of political will to address ills dogging local government, saying: “We can't be held back by politicians who don't know what they are doing. We must depoliticise the development of our country. Our infrastructure is crumbling.”
It was important that Johannesburg's infrastructure was developed and maintained, they said. This is as some areas of the metro, such as Westbury, have been battling intermittent water supply that forced them to embark on protests recently.
Johannesburg Water MD Ntshavheni Mukwevho told the breakfast event the city had a turnaround strategy to address its water woes.
He said Johannesburg Water had an infrastructure renewal backlog of about R27bn. Non-revenue water accounted for 44.8% and water losses 32.9%.
Mukwevho identified the townships of Soweto, Alexandra, Ivory Park and Orange Farm, among others, as areas with a “high level of illegal [water] connections”. He bemoaned the fact that population growth in the metro was not matched by investment in water services infrastructure.
Johannesburg group corporate and shared services member of the mayoral committee Sthembiso Zungu said: “Water is life and Johannesburg’s life depends on fixing its water systems. Plan to fix water lines, leakages and the billing system.
“Over next five years, [we] will increase the bulk supply of water [because] when water runs, hope flows. The time for talking is over,” he said, appealing to developers and engineers to transform Johannesburg’s landscape.
“Johannesburg’s greatness is never about its stock exchange or skyline, but about its people. If we build our infrastructure, Johannesburg won’t only rise again, but will stand as a beacon. Even in the face of decay, renewal is possible,” Zungu said.,
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