Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi said the Greater Lanseria master plan has been developed by a multidisciplinary team as the first phase of the smart city President Cyril Ramaphosa envisioned five years ago.
Kubayi said significant investment was still required for bulk infrastructure in the area.
She also said the City of Joburg has invested about R29 million of the Urban Settlements Development Grant towards the Lanseria wastewater treatment works and the Lanseria sewer outfall.
“The City of Johannesburg has processed the necessary approvals for urban planning as required for planned development. This component is also registered under the water and sanitation project pipeline of Infrastructure South Africa (ISA),” she said.
“While this has been achieved, ISA reported that the human settlements component was not approved due to the lack of institutional and government arrangements.
“This has been resolved, not only for human settlements but for the government as a whole to enable a public-private partnership effectively,” the minister added.
Kubayi was responding in writing to a parliamentary question from ANC MP Michael Masutha when he asked about progress in her department in building the new smart city and other city developments.
Ramaphosa announced in his 2019 State of the Nation Address that the government intended to build a new smart city as a way of transforming the spatial legacy of apartheid.
According to Kubayi, the key stakeholders for the Lanseria smart city included ISA, Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GGDA), Infrastructure Fund, national departments and its entities, the Gauteng province, the City of Tshwane, the City of Joburg, Mogale City and the Madibeng Local Municipality.
“GGDA is in the process of appointing a transactional adviser to support the municipalities for the project,” Kubayi said.
In December, Ramaphosa said the smart city project aimed to establish a new smart city in the area currently known as Lanseria that will be home to between 350 000 and 500 000 people by 2030.
He had said the master plan was being managed and co-ordinated by the GGDA with the support of local, provincial and national government.
“Support is being provided for the development of bulk infrastructure through the allocation by the Department of Human Settlements of an Urban Settlements Development Grant to the City of Johannesburg.
“The current focus of the project is on building a wastewater treatment facility and land acquisition,” Ramaphosa said at the time.
Meanwhile, another new post-apartheid city was the Eastern Seaboard Development, a district development flagship project launched by Ramaphosa in November 2022.
Kubayi said the flagship project aimed to connect developmental opportunities across four district municipalities – Harry Gwala, Ugu, Alfred Nzo and OR Tambo in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
“It is co-ordinated by the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs and has established a steering committee that includes various national sector departments, provincial governments, and the district municipalities.”
She said a notable achievement was that the Eastern Seaboard was declared as a region in terms of the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act.
“This declaration serves to strengthen intergovernmental planning and co-ordination and this has resulted in the successful development of the draft Regional Spatial Development Framework,” Kubayi added.
Cape Times