Everyone knows what happens when you don’t plan properly. Whether it’s building a house, organising a big event or running a business — if the preparation is rushed or the design is poor, things go wrong. The same rule applies to governments.
That’s why Cape Town has spent the past five years building a disciplined, professional system for how we plan and deliver infrastructure. Our focus is simple: invest in the fundamentals that make a city work — water, power, roads, housing, and public spaces — and manage those investments with the same rigour as any well-run company would.
This approach has made Cape Town a leader in infrastructure-led growth. The city’s capital spending has climbed steadily, reaching record highs over the past two financial years. That means we are finally maintaining what we have while expanding the city’s capacity for growth and opportunity. Every kilometre of new pipe, every upgraded road or substation, is part of building a city of hope — a place where services work, jobs can grow, and people can look forward to the future.
In a recent opinion piece, Sean Phillips, the director-general of the department of water & sanitation, highlighted three priorities for improving the state’s ability to manage infrastructure projects: remove the politics, strengthen delivery management and professionalise procurement (“Improving the capacity of the state to manage infrastructure projects”, October 22).
He is right — and in Cape Town we are showing that it can be done. Over the past couple of years the City of Cape Town has built one of South Africa’s most advanced systems for managing municipal infrastructure projects. We have professionalised the way we plan, design and deliver capital investments that make quality of life improvements to residents.
A foresight model of 10-15 years underpins a R120bn capital pipeline — a record for South Africa — providing predictability and continuity for the construction industry and funders.
Stage-gate reviews
As Phillips notes, cost overruns and delays usually originate in poor planning. That’s why Cape Town has built a project “stage gate” approval process to ensure every project is thoroughly planned, designed, costed and risk-assessed before being considered “shovel ready”.
All major infrastructure decisions — from scope and affordability to procurement and contract structure — pass through stage-gate reviews before committing funds. Measurable outputs are committed to upfront: kilometres of pipe upgraded, substations commissioned, roads resurfaced or community facility upgrades completed.
But our secret weapon is a bomb squad of 30 engineers and quantity surveyors who form our engineering management team. They ensure every major infrastructure project is supported by sound technical oversight and rigorous quality control. They are our internal assurance that Cape Town’s engineering standards remain world-class and that big projects get over the line.
Engineering, project management and contract administration now work as an integrated system, rather than distinct silos, helping our city government to deliver infrastructure at the scale and speed required for Cape Town’s future.
Thanks to a R50m investment, Cape Town also has the digital systems to track delivery in real time, reinforcing accountability in day-to-day operations. Together, these reforms have fundamentally improved the way Cape Town provides infrastructure.
By embedding accountability and professionalism at every level, we are ensuring that every rand’s worth of public investment translates into real impact, especially for our poorest residents.
And the results speak for themselves. Cape Town delivered R9.4bn in infrastructure investment in 2023/24 and R9.5bn in 2024/25, with R10bn targeted for this financial year — record levels for any South African municipality.
In fact, Cape Town has invested more in infrastructure than Johannesburg and Tshwane combined over the term of office to date (R25.8bn vs R22.8bn from 2022/23 to 2024/25).
These figures translate into quality-of-life improvement for residents: better water and sanitation through the replacement of 100km of sewer and 50km of water pipelines, multibillion-rand upgrades to wastewater treatment, and electricity grid upgrades for reliable supply.
The city is also undertaking SA’s biggest public transport project — the MyCiti route expansion linking Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain and other suburbs to Claremont and Wynberg.
Working system
The capable state is often discussed in theoretical terms. In Cape Town it is a working system — rooted in preparation, professionalism and evidence-based governance. By embedding technical competence and data-driven oversight at every stage, the city has demonstrated that disciplined, professional public management can deliver measurable impact for all Capetonians, now and in the future.
Cape Town’s model proves that South Africa can fix its infrastructure delivery record — not through slogans or centralisation, but through professionalism, foresight and purpose-driven execution.
Hill-Lewis is mayor of Cape Town.
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