Executive Mayor Amos Masondo counted up Johannesburg's successes over the past year, such as housing, service delivery and greening, as well as outlined its plans to grow into the future, in his State of the City address.

THE City will continue to address challenges of service delivery, urban renewal and poverty through implementing its Growth and Development Strategy and five-year Integrated Development Plan.

Through these plans, Johannesburg will also seek to tackle issues of globalisation, growing the economy and the HIV and Aids scourge. Presenting his State of the City address to the council on Thursday, 28 February, Executive Mayor Amos Masondo said the ANC National Conference in Polokwane in 2007 committed Joburg to a broad range of endeavours over the next five years.

These endeavours would form the basis of all the City's work in the coming months and years. These included tackling the issues of housing; water, forestry and sanitation; economic transformation; immigration and refugees; and expanding the social wage, among others.

Housing
"We are unwavering in our commitment to ensure that all citizens of Johannesburg have access to affordable and decent housing. Housing is a central pillar in our overall effort to restore the dignity of our people and in the pursuit of a better life for all."

Citing the Alexandra Renewal Project as an example, Masondo said it continued to show progress.

"By the end of March 2008, about 1 407 houses will be occupied by former shack dwellers in Extension 7. These new housing opportunities are in addition to the 4 500 shack dwellers that have in recent years been relocated to brick houses."

In Extension 9, 3 400 units were under construction and 520 rental units would be handed over to the Johannesburg Social Housing Company this year. Other housing developments in the township included the M2 hostel, which would be transformed into fully serviced studio apartments and family units. Already 98 family units and 152 studio units had been completed.

As part of its commitment to solving the housing problem, the City was stepping up the formalisation of 182 informal settlements. And between July and December 2007, 43 settlements were formalised, Masondo said.

"Thirty-seven settlements have been identified for assessment between housing and the department of planning and urban management. These will be finalised by June 2008. A feasibility study on all informal settlements requiring formalisation will be completed by June 2008."

Service provision
Turning to service provision, Masondo said the targets set in the Millennium Development Goals through the United Nations and the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Joburg in 2002, sought to eradicate water and sanitation backlogs by 2008 and 2010 respectively. The deadline for all households to have electricity was 2012.

An initiative to give residents access to water and sanitation, Project Thonifho, was launched in 2006. Under it, 20 000 households now had access to clean water and sanitation services and a further 30 000 households would gain access in the current financial year, according to the mayor.

Since the implementation of a drive to provide electricity to residents, over 50 000 households received electricity for the first time in their lives and a further 17 000 households would be added to this number.

However, the current electricity problems may hamper the provision of electricity. The City, in response, had come up with measures to ensure all its residents had access to power. These included:

• The supply of compact fluorescent light bulbs to 300 000 households;
• The reinstatement of diesel and gas turbines within a period of six months;
• The installation of geyser ripple controls in 200 000 households;
• The use of solar power for traffic lights and public lighting;
• The installation of solar water heaters; and
• The upgrading of the Kelvin Power Station.

In addition, big electricity consumers had agreed to cut back their use of power by 10 percent, according to Masondo.

Transport
Johannesburg would find it difficult to achieve its goal of becoming a world-class African city and improve the quality of life of its residents without a sound transport system. Masondo said the City was implementing the initial parts of phase one of the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, which comprises 122 kilometres of bus routes and 158 stations.

The City had received a substantial portion of the capital funding for the first phase of the project from the national Public Transport Infrastructure and Systems Fund.

"Physical construction is taking place alongside Ellis Park and on the Soweto Highway alongside Soccer City. About 17 kilometres will be completed by the end of June 2008. Job creation from the Rea Vaya BRT system will be significant, and it's estimated that phase one will result in the creation of about 51 000 jobs."

Greening
Greening was also high on the City's service delivery agenda, especially in areas that had been previously disadvantaged. Masondo said Joburg aimed to plant more than 200 000 trees before 2010, build regional eco-parks and establish nurseries to support the greening programme. Since July 2006, it had planted about 40 000 trees.

In addition, the rehabilitation of wetlands was going on in earnest, with the City already having completed work at the Vorna Valley and the Mapetla wetlands.

"One of the key environmental achievements was the completion of an eco-design as part of the Klipriver/Klipspruit rehabilitation and greening. The project's vision is to transform the landscape of Soweto into a green and vibrant corridor, conducive to healthy living."

Social package
Turning to other measures to improve quality of life, the mayor said that the City had designed a new social package policy that would help indigent households to move away from registering only those with account holders, and focus entirely on indigent households.

There were five key measures that it would consider in this regard, including an action plan for metering the inner city; targeting informal settlements; a six-month grace period for indigent households in which the primary account holder has died; and extending benefits beyond the three-year time line.

"The [social development] department needs to ensure that vulnerable families do not slip through the social net into deprivation and it will strive to put measures in place to address poverty," Masondo said.

Adding to this, Johannesburg had drawn up an "exit strategy" for those using the social package. It had designed a Job Pathways Pilot Programme in partnership with civil society and business. This would be an economic opportunity for the jobless and underemployed. The target industries were administration, artisans, health workers and landscaping.

Economy
Speaking about growing the City's economy, Masondo said it aimed to increase the participation of local small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in the international trading arena. In this regard, it had entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce.

Through this agreement, 135 SMME exporters had been trained and a further 50 would be trained and helped to participate in export-oriented activities.

An important initiative that would contribute to growing the City's economy was the development of municipal broadband capabilities under the Joburg Broadband Network. This project would make conducting business in Johannesburg easier and cheaper, Masondo explained.

"The project will also give the City an opportunity to provide free access to disadvantaged youth and adults who must become familiar with and use information communications and technology in order to be more competitive for jobs."

Property rates
On the new Municipal Property Rates Act, Masondo said it must be implemented on 1 July 2008. It would bring about major changes, including a change in the valuation basis from site values to full market values, drawing up of a new valuation roll and drafting a new property rates policy.

After extensive public consultation, a provisional general valuation roll was completed in December 2007. It contained 784 324 entries, of which 156 499 were individual sectional title units.

Health
On HIV and Aids, Masondo said all the City's health facilities now offered voluntary counselling and testing, rapid on-site HIV testing, management of opportunistic infections and Polymerase Chain Reaction testing for infants and children.

"One new antiretroviral [ARV] therapy site was activated in [Region A]. Crosby Clinic and four clinics in Region F are now offering down referral services for all stable patients on ARVs."

World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup™ was not only about what the government should do but was a matter that required the involvement of civil society organisations and all communities, the mayor said. Preparations for hosting the football spectacular were progressing well and all stadiums under construction would meet their deadlines.

Masondo also pointed out the various 2010 legacy projects and their benefits to Joburg citizens. The Orlando Indoor Sports Centre concept design was complete and 64 sports fields had been identified for grassing. And finally, regeneration of the Klipspruit Valley would begin soon.

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• Alex residents get homes
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• 2010 FIFA World Cup™