Parks Tau has called on the finance and business community as well as the captains of industry to partner with the country’s metropolitan municipalities to fund and invest in the cities’ infrastructure development.

“With the global economic slowdown hampering [municipalities’] revenue targets and thus the ability to finance most of the infrastructure on the balance sheet, it then becomes critical that we address these challenges collectively,” the Johannesburg Mayor said on the first day of the three-day “Innovating in Financing South African Cities Conference”.

Mayor Tau said in the face of the continuing global financial pressures, smaller municipalities were mostly affected by declining budgets to fund infrastructure projects.

This had resulted in cities struggling to collect much-needed revenue from their customers.

“The harsh reality in South Africa today is that the small- and medium-sized local government entities, as well as municipalities, need long-term financing at a reasonable cost for a number of infrastructure projects. Most urban infrastructure projects have been financed by the state up to now.”

The Mayor said he hoped the conference, which is being hosted in partnership with the Paris-based Global Fund for Cities Development (FMDV), would come up with innovative solutions as far as Pooled Financing Mechanisms were concerned.

Gauteng MEC for Finance Barbara Creecy assured investors that the provincial government was committed to working with the City and the private sector to build the province’s infrastructure through public-private partnerships.

“Both the public and private sectors can play an important role in financing infrastructure investment. The National Development Plan emphasises government’s willingness to take the lead in prioritising infrastructure investment,” said MEC Creecy.

–Joburg.org.za